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<br />North Platte Basin Roundtable Meeting 8-22-06 <br /> <br />Needs' Assessment <br />Kent pointed out that one of the real benefits of Roundtable discussion is that more <br />people are aware and becoming informed of water issues. We have a great deal more to <br />learn. We must begin to identify the needs in the North Platte Basin, so that we can begin <br />to focus on our needs assessment and future project requests. The RFQ is out and an <br />engineering firm will be hired soon to work with/for Roundtables. It was noted that <br />CDM, the consulting firm that completed the SWSI work is a likely qualifier for that <br />position. Each Roundtable will eventually be submitting task orders related to the needs <br />assessments to be approved by the project manager and then submitted to the selected <br />firm to complete the study or analysis. Everyone should have reviewed SWSI by now. <br />Members were asked to take some time reviewing that document if they haven't already <br />done so. It is expected that existing data must be used in the assessments. The group <br />brainstormed questions we may wish to address in a needs assessment and possible <br />projects for the North Platte. <br />. Do we really understand our consumptive and non consumptive needs? <br />. What do we think about the accuracy of the North Platte information in SWSI and <br />where do we perceive additional information is needed? <br />. Should we quantify the amounts of unappropriated water available, if any, in the <br />North Platte basin? <br />. How much of our water flowing out of the Basin could we appropriate? <br />. Storage questions i.e. could we store in priority or when there is no call on river? <br />Point made that given our arid climate, we should explore all legal storage <br />possibilities. <br />. We are limited by 17,000 acre feet of storage for irrigation, but could we store for <br />other uses? <br />. Erin Light notes that we may want to consider the need for augmentation projects <br />to replace depletions that might occur, especially with the Town of Walden water <br />supply. <br />. Paula Belcher noted that SWSI didn't address details on a sub-basin major <br />tributary level which leaves many questions we might want to consider within <br />North Park. <br />. Considering the Supreme Comi Decree and the Three-State Agreement, we may <br />want to assess where possibilities exist to increase our irrigated acres. We could <br />track historical data of irrigated acres and consider where we might increase <br />acreage. <br />. Town may want to consider increasing the size of the Walden Reservoir. <br />Essentially they own irrigation rights and have not been through water court to <br />change use. Securing the Town's full use of their water rights might be an <br />impOliant project to consider. <br />. Dina Bennett noted that it would be relevant to find out what other entities have <br />planned or in the works regarding water projects i.e. the Colorado State Forest <br />and USFS. <br />. What are the potential impacts of a catastrophic fire on our surrounding forests to <br />the North Platte Basin? <br />. How much will flow increase as a result of losing many trees to bark beetles? <br />. Should we upgrade diversion structures for the Town of Walden? <br /> <br />2 <br />