South Platte Basin Roundtable Minutes Sept 26

• Basin Roundtable: South Platte
• Title: Minutes
• Date: 9/26/2006
• Basin Roundtables - Doc Type: Minutes

--Republican River Basin: Dec 2007, must meet Compact Compliance
with NE; 34,000 acft deficit in that area; yet Republican river does not
have that yield; in the lawsuit the Ogalla aquifer wells were tied in there
and thus the large deficit is huge; solutions hard to come by; must cut
consumptive use; dry up of irrigated land seems to be the only solution out
there right now unless more precipitation comes by. Some speculation
that the 34,000 acft might be high,
--Lower South Platte: broken up by Counties:
1) Sedgwick County: where South Platte leaves State: problems: water
quantity and water quality, as water is used and reused, water deteriorates,
see this in Julesburg, more than anywhere; also burden from 3 states
program hits Julesburg more than anywhere
--Solution: Ovid Reservoir: Initiated by GASP: status of this is that GASP
still owns water right and they have done some cost estimates and
engineering to hold on to that right; District 64-Morgan County to State
Line-has moved to purchase this from GASP; not large: 5000 ac ft
--Logan County: More problems than solutions in discussions:
Water quantity and need for supplemental storage and need for flood
control; burden also fi-om 3 states, in Logan County, feeling pressure from
Front Range and ag transfers; new way that State is administering
reservoir storage, pressure to lower counties to holding back on storage.
--problem with river channel, in dry years, overgrowth is a problem; as we
try to move water, evapotransporation is a challenge; likewise, flood
control is a problem with the vegetation.
Solution: Pawnee Reservoir, could be flood control and storage; dam
rehabilitation that could be done; could increase storage;
Solution: possibility of working with wild life groups for management
especially with vegetative growth; pilot area to focus on how increasing
wild life could help with these specific kinds of problems;
--Morgan County: Industry and Growth in general, need CBT water that
comes all the way fi-om Ft Morgan; shares some of the other issues
previously mentioned in the other counties.
--Elbert County: problem is with Denver Basin which the county relies on
heavily; the Denver Basin is being mined and by year 2030, will be very
low;
Solutions: need for reuse in the area, need for renewable, sustainable
source of water;
Other concerns: Ag dry up: how this affects river with return flows: would
like to not have the lower river as a sacrifice; issue with municipal reuse
and how that affects return flows in the area.
-- "if we could just conserve": but in our area, as we conserve in one area,
does not help another area;
--need for additional public education, on-stream storage, statewide water
plan that goes hand in hand with vision for our area: are we trying to
maintain the status quo.. .or do we have a vision?

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