BOARD00055 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 11/13/2006
• Description: IBCC Director's Report - Interbasin Compact Committee Annual Report to the House of Representatives Com. On Agriculture, Livestock, Natural Resources, and Senate Com. On Agriculture, Energy, Natural
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

2.9 YampalWhite/Green Basin

2.9.1 Procedural Accomplishments

The Yampa/White Basin Roundtable has decided to
refer to themselves as the YampalWhite/Green Basin
Roundtable. Since September 2005, the
Yampa/White/Green Basin Roundtable has met on
roughly a bi-montly basis. Mr. Tom Sharp was elected
Chair of the Yampa/White/Green Basin Roundtable. Mr.
Darryl Steele and Mr. Dan Birch were elected as IBCC
representatives. The YampalWhite/Green Basin
Roundtable elected two non-voting at large members. As
required by Section 37-75-104(a)(I) of the Act, the
YampalWhite/Green Basin Roundtable is developing
bylaws.

2.9.2 Yampa/White/Green Basin

Educational Accomplishments

The Yampa/White/Green Basin received a series of
presentations during its first year. These included a
presentation on the Colorado River Compact by Mr. Eric
Kuhn, of the Colorado River Water Conservation District
on April 19, 2006, and on SWSI by Mr. Rick Brown, of
CWCB, on July 19, 2006. Additionally, the
YampalWhite/Green Basin Roundtable received a
presentation on water supply and needs issues specific
to the White River. The presentations received by the
YampalWhite/Green Basin Roundtable are available on
the Colorado Water for the 21st Century section of the
DNR website.

2.9.3 Yampa/White/Green Basin Needs

Assessment Accomplishments

A Water Supply and Needs Report for the
YampalWhite/Green Basin was prepared utilizing
information from the SWSI Report as required by Section
37-75-104(c)(lI). The report was distributed to the
Yampa/White/Green Basin Roundtable at the July 19,
2006, meeting by Mr. Rick Brown of CWCB.

S:\IBC Support\Report to Leglslalure\Sectlon 2 flnal.doc

Section 2
Reports From Basin Roundtables
, ""1~":-:-1IIi'J

2.9.4 Major Water Issues in the

Yampa/White/Green Basin

Based on the findings in the needs assessment, the
Basin Roundtables are tasked with identifing major water
issues in their basin and proposing projects or methods
to meet those needs. The major water issues in each
basin as identified during SWSI served as a starting point
for the Basin Roundtables to further develop and refine
their own list of major water issues. Following are some
of the major issues in the YampalWhite/Green Basin
identified by the YampalWhite/Green Basin Roundtable
and in SWSI:

. Emerging development of gas and oil shale resources
is impacting water needs both for the direct
production needs and the associated increase in
municipal use; it is important to quantify these water
needs.

. The Yampa/White/Green Basin Roundtable wishes to
develop a more detailed needs assessment for non-
consumptive (recreational and environmental) water
needs. This issue was the topic of a presentation by
Mr. Geoff Blakeslee and Mr. Kent Vertrees on
October 18, 2006.

. Agriculture, tourism, and recreation are vital
components to this basin's economy.

. Industrial uses, especially power production, are a
major water use. Future energy development is less
certain.

. While rapidly growing in some areas (Yampa
River/Steamboat area) the basin is not developing as
rapidly as other portions of the state. This has led to
concern that the basin will not get a "fair share" of
water use afforded to Colorado under the Colorado
River Compact.

. Implementation of a successful Endangered Species
Program is vital to ensuring protection of existing and
future water uses.

The results of the gap analysis conducted during SWSI
for the YampalWhite/Green Basin showed that there are
no identified gaps for counties in this basin.

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