BOARD00179 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 5/23/2007
• Description: Director's Report - CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

TOP 10 RIVERS AT RISK

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working with Gov. Bill Richardson to design l multiagency "living river" program to
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more efficiently work on restoring the entire ~o Grande's ecosystem.

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· Rio Grande (North America): Water o~erextiaction
· Salween (Asia): Infrastructure,dams I
· Danube (Europe): Infrastructure, navi~ation
· La Plata (South America): Dams, navigation
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· Ganges (Asia): Water over-extraction I
· Indus (Asia): Climate change I
· Nile (Africa): Climate change i
· Murray (Asia-Pacific): Invasive species!
· Mekong (Asia): Over fishing !
· Yangtze (Asia): Pollution !
Source: www.worldwildlife.org i

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~uan / Dolores River Basin
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Tacoma Power Plant ReIicensing Update: IThe Public Service Company of
Colorado d/b/a Xcel Energy is in the process of ;relicensing its Tacoma Hydroelectric .
Project before FERC. The Tacoma Project is loc~ted on Cascade Creek and the Animas
River just north of Durango. Xcel owns the wafer rights to divert the flows of Cascade
Creek into a conduit that then delivers those fldws to the Little Cascade Creek
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watershed, and hence into Electra Lake. From Electra Lake, the water is diverted into a
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penstock to the Tacoma Powerhouse in the Animas River canyon. The relicensing
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process, which started in July 2004, is scheduleq for completion in February 2010. The
Tacoma Plant celebrated its 100th anniversary ini2006 and is one of the oldest power
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plants in the nation. :
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Xcel believes that the MOU between the USFS and the State of Colorado dated April
2004 could playa major role in the relicensing process, and has asked the state to
actively participate in the process. Based upon iTIformal discussions between CWCB
staff and USFS staff about this matter, CWCB st~ff believes that it may be feasible to
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address flow needs through the ISF Program ratper than through federal imposition of
bypass flow requirements. Xcel held a draft stuqy report meeting on April 11-12, 2007 to
provide a progress update on implementation o~ the study plans for the Tacoma
Hydroelectric Project. The instream flow assessment portion of the study is expected to
be available to the public for review and commetitt by the end of May, with comments
due 30 days later. CWCB staff will review the s4dy, provide comments as appropriate,
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