BOARD00054 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 11/13/2006
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program. The meeting concluded with lunch and some discussion
with Mexico mwc representatives that were touring the Colorado River Basin.

October 30,2006 7-State Meeting:.This meeting was held at the Southern Nevada Water Authority in
Las Vegas. In addition to updates on items discussed at the September 28 meeting. Considerable time .
was spent on the discussion of issues needing resolution in order for the 7-State proposal and agreements
to be completed. A proposed shortage sharing agreement between Arizona and Nevada was outlined.
There was discussion of non-system water accounting involving Nevada's groundwater uses and
conservation programs. Considerable progress appears to have made in these areas. However, the
proposed agreements raise several questions concerning tributary uses that must be fully evaluated before
incorporation of the shortage agreements into the 7 -state agreement. It was also noted that both Basins
wanted to discuss some possible changes to the 7-State Agreement itself. In order to move the 7-State
Agreement forward, the Drafting Committee will reconvene on November 13 to consider the proposals.
We would also note: 1) that there have been no further discussions with mwc since the Salt Lake
meeting: 2) there remain Mexican Treaty issues that require further discussion; 3) the ability to move
forward on Drop 2 storage and related contracts remains uncertain given the All American Canal lawsuit;
and 4) on October 31 sl a 5 state amicus brief was filed in support of the US response in the All American
Canal litigation.

October 30, 2006 Meeting with Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne~ On October 30 Secretary
Kempthorne, Undersecretary Mark Limbaugh, and the Commissioner for Reclamation Robert Johnson
met with the representatives of the seven basin states, and their negotiating teams, in Las Vegas,.Nevada.
A representative from each state was given a few minutes to address the Secretary. I addressed the
Secretary for the State of Colorado and confirmed the State's support for the 7-Basin States Agreement
and the EIS process associated with developing shortage criteria and coordinated reservoir operations
under low reservoir conditions. As long as these outcomes do not limit Upper Basin water development
opportunities, we will continue to support the process and will continue to encourage the Lower Basin
states to develop system efficiencies and augmentation opportunities. A press release from the Secretary
is attached to this Director's report. The seven basin states continue to meet and pursue finalization and .
signature of the. seven basin states agreement.

October 31,2006 Lower Basin Drafting Meeting: The Lower Basin interests invited the Upper Basin
representatives to observe their deliberations on development of the "Shortage Sharing Under Low
Reservoir Conditions" Agreement. The Agreement as drafted at present depends on recognition of the
1944 Mexican Treaty, the decree in Arizona v California, and the 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act
and is conditioned on the inclusion of terms in the 7 -State Proposal as may be modified by the Record of
Decision for Colorado River Reservoir Operations and Lower Basin Shortage Guidelines. The
Agreement is nearing completion and will be sent to Secretary Kempthorne when finished. The Lower
Basin interests also worked on some exhibits that would be attached to the agreement. The Upper Basin
will need to evaluate the agreement prior to its completion.

October 31,2006 7-State Technical Committee Meeting: The Committee met to receive a status report
on Reclamation' s EIS dealing with Coordinated Reservoir Operations and Shortage Guidelines and the
methodologies they would employee in evaluating key resource areas. Reclamation gave a verbal
overview of the different resource areas they would be looking at and a short description of key issues in
each resource area. There were several questions concerning how this EIS mayor may not impact other
EIS results or ongoing activities such as the Temperature Control Devices at Glen Canyon Dam or the
Multi-species Conservation Program. Reclamation was keenly aware of all these efforts and was working
hard to make sure this EIS was consistent with each of those efforts. The Committee also got to review
the results of some modeling that will be used to describe the impacts of "Intentional Created Surplus" or
ICS accounts on reservoir operations. In short, the model runs indicated that ICS accounts were of
benefit to reservoir levels.

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