IBCCAnnualReport103106

• Title: Interbasin Compact Committee Annual Report
• Date: 10/31/2006
• Author: CDM
• Interbasin CC - Doc Type: Annual Legislative Report

Section 2
Reports from Basin Roundtables

This section provides a summary of accomplishments
and activities by each of the nine Basin Roundtables
during the past year.

2.1 Arkansas Basin

2.1.1 Procedural Accomplishments

Since September 2005, the Arkansas Basin Roundtable
has met on roughly a monthly basis. Mr. Alan Hamel was
elected temporary Chair of the Arkansas Basin
Roundtable as well as an IBCC representative. Mr. Gary
Barber was appointed to serve as recorder on a
temporary basis. Two non-voting at-large Arkansas
Basin Roundtable members have been selected. Mr.
Jeris Danielson was the second individual selected to
represent the Arkansas Basin on the IBCC per Section
37 -75-104(2) of the Act. As required by Section 37-75-
104(a) (I) of the Act, the bylaws for the Arkansas Basin
Roundtable were adopted on March 8, 2006. In April the
Roundtable elected their 2006-2007 officers. Those
elected were: Mr. Alan Hamel, Chair, Mr. Jonathan Fox
and Mr. Jay Winner, Vice-Chairs, and Mr. Gary Barber as
Recorder. The Arkansas Basin Roundtable has formed
the following subcommittees:

. Groundwater

. Needs Assessment

. Guidelines for Interbasin Water Transfers

. Bylaws

2.1.2 Arkansas Basin Educational

Accomplishments

The Arkansas Basin Roundtable received a presentation
from Dr. Lyn Kathlene on beliefs and challenges for
water providers at the January 9, 2006, meeting. Ms.
Susan Morea of CDM delivered a presentation on SWSI
at the February 8,2006, meeting. Mr. Rick Brown,
CWCB, gave an in-depth presentation of SWSI keyed to
the Arkansas River basin at the June 14,2006 meeting.
Mr. Ralf topper, CGS, presented an overview of the
Aquifer Recharge Study and SB 06-193 at the July 12,
2006 meeting. Mr. Steve Witte, Division 2 Engineer,
gave a presentation on water administration in the
Arkansas Basin at the August, 9, 2006, meeting.

S:\IBC Support\Report to Legislature\Section 2 finaLdoc

Additional information on the economic contribution of
irrigated agriculture was presented by Dr. James
Pritchett of Colorado State University. The presentations
received by the Arkansas Basin Roundtable are available
on the Colorado Water for the 2151 Century section of the
DNR website.

2.1.3 Arkansas Basin Needs Assessment

Accomplishments

A Water Supply and Needs Report was prepared for the
Arkansas Basin utilizing information from the SWSI
Report as required by Section 37-75-104(c)(II) of the Act.
Copies of this report were distributed at the
June 14,2006, meeting. Among the needs assessment
topics for which the Arkansas Basin Roundtable
determined that more information should be sought are:

. Municipal conservation for small communities

. The impact of Kansas vs Colorado on agriculture

. Water quality information

. Agriculture efficiency

The Arkansas Basin Roundtable obtained additional
needs assessment information from the Arkansas River
Water Needs Assessment prepared in July 2000 by
representatives from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,
Bureau of Land Management, and Colorado Division of
Wildlife.

2.1.4 Major Water Issues in the Arkansas

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 identified in the Arkansas Basin
during SWSI:

. Arkansas River Compact requirements and existing
uses and water rights result in little to no water
availability for new uses.

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