BOARD00151 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 3/12/2007
• Description: WSP Section - Animas-La Plata Project Updates - Intergovernmental Agreement Establishing the ALP Operations and Maintenance Association and Proposed Concept Paper
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Agenda Item 14
March 12-13,2007 Board Meeting
Page 2 of3

The ALP beneficiaries include: .

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (16,525 AF of annual consumptive uses)
Southern Ute Indian Tribe (16,525 AF of annual consumptive uses) .
Navajo Nation (2,340 AF of annual consumptive uses)
Animas-La Plata WCD & Durango (2,600 AF of annual consumptive uses)
(Financed by the Colorado Water & Power Development Authority)
State of Colorado : (5,230 AF of annual consumptive uses)
San Juan Water Commission ofNM I (10,400 AF of annual consumptive uses)
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La Plata Conservation District ofNM; (780 AF of annual consumptive uses)
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The project water supply, to the extent that the water rights for the ALP provide, is
estimated to be sufficient to provide th~ above annual consumptive uses as provided for
in the 2000 Settlement Act amendments.
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It is important to understand that the Bureau of Reclamation, pursuant to its
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Indian Trust responsibilities, will provide the project funding for the Indian Tribes until
such time as the Tribes put their projectlwater to beneficial use. Furthermore, the San
Juan Water Commission and the Colora<to Water & Power Development Authority, on
behalf of the Animas-La Plata Water Cdnservancy District and the City of Durango have
entered into upfront repayment contract~ in order to avoid the "interest during
construction" charges. Thus, the State dfColorado and the La Plata Conservancy District
of New Mexico are the only entities tha~ have not contracted for their project water. .
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In response to the Bureau of Rec1amation's request to establish an operating
entity, the project beneficiaries have beeh working to develop such an arrangement.
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Intere:overnmental Ae:reement Establishine: the ALP Operations and Maintenance
Association and Proposed Concept Paper
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Attached hereto is a draft of a proposed Intergovernmental Agreement
establishing the "Animas-La Plata Opedtionsand Maintenance Association." The
agreement sets forth the authorities of eabh project beneficiary to enter into such an
agreement, and the funding, organizatiorl, duties, rights and immunities of the
Association. In addition, the project ben~ficiaries are also developing a concept paper
that begins to describe how the Association would perform and carry out its
responsibilities and allocate O&M costs. I; In short, the concept is for each project
beneficiary to provide a proportionate sh~e of the fixed O&M costs equal to its project
water allocation. However, each entity would be individually responsible for the power
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costs associated with pumping and repleriishing its reservoir water supply (variable
costs).

The State, although it has not ent~red into a repayment contract for its project
water allocation, has been participating in this process in order to assure that any such
agreement establishing the Association wbuld not preclude it from participating in the
Association in the future should the State I elect to enter into a repayment contract.
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