BOARD00043 ‎(3)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 9/19/2006
• Description: CF Section - Finance Subcommittee Meeting
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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STATE OF COLORADO

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OFFICE OF THE STATE ENGINEER
Division of Water Resources
Department of Natural Resources

1313 Sherman Street, Room 818
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone [phone]
FAX [phone]

August 23, 2006

www.water.state.co.us

Bill Owens
Governor

Russell George
Executive Director

MEMORANDUM

Hal D. Simpson, P.E.
State Engineer

To: Rod Kuharich, Director, Colorado Water Conservation Board

cc:

Jack Byers, Tom Ley, Mike Serlet, Jeff Baessler, and Dan McAuliffe

From:

Hal Simpson, State Engineer ~

Division of Water Resources Satellite-linked Monitoring System D .
DWR and CWCB Flood Hardening of Existing Stream Gages

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RE:

The Colorado Division of Water Resources requests $303,000 from the CWCB Construction fund for FY07.
The funds are for continued, long-term operational viability of the over 450 satellite-linked water monitoring
sites, renovation of existing gaging stations, replacement of out-dated data collection platforms and
upgrading transmission components. In addition, many existing gaging stations need to be modified to
provide critical stream flow data for flood warning and low flow monitoring. The specific distribution of the
funds requested is as follows:

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1. $248,000 for replacement of 55 out-dated Data Collection Platforms (DCP) and associated satellite
telemetry equipment and upgrading of satellite transmission components. This request is for the
ongoing program to upgrade data collection platforms with high data rate satellite telemetry.

2. $55,000 for refurbishing existing stream gages as needed to maintain operational reliability of stream
flow data. This request is anticipated to be an annual cost due to deterioration and projected life
expectancy of the physical and mechanical aspects of the stream gages.

DWR and CWCS, jointly, request $50,000 for flood hardening and high flow measurement sustainability at
stream gages around Colorado. In 2001, a committee of representatives of DWR, CWCS and the USGS
evaluated and ranked, using a set of flood warning/monitoring criteria, all satellite monitoring stream gages
throughout the State. This ranking has identified prioritized sites where flood-hardening projects would be
useful in flood warning and notification. The cost to modify many of these gages to withstand flood events
will vary considerably. Each site is being evaluated for required modifications to flood harden the gage.
High flow measurement capability varies from gage to gage. High flows at stream gages are measured
from cableways at the gage or from nearby up- or downstream bridges. Cableways at DWR stream gages
are given a detailed inspection each four years. During the past 4 years many cableways, primarily
because of age, have been found to need replacement of key components of the cableway system.

Introduction

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The Division of Water Resources and eWCB, consistent with Section 37-60-121 and Section 37-80-102
C.R.S., continue to improve the utility of the stream gaging program to support multi-agency and water
user needs such as flood forecasting and warning, water rights administration, compact protection, and
Decision Support System implementation and use. DWR must maintain the electronics in satellite-linked
data collection stations, refurbish the station structure and non-electronic hardware for stations that are