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HB 1177 Water Roundtable Dolores, San Juan, San Miguel November 16,2006 Durango, CO Chairman Steve Harris called the meeting to order at 3 :00 pm. Introductions were made. It was moved, seconded, and passed that the September 13th meeting minutes be approved. Jenny Russell thanked all the Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC) representatives for their participation. John Porter mentioned the importance of communication and the need to get roundtable input earlier to the IBCe. Don Schwindt commented that a lot of time was spent discussing the states' water basins at the IBCC meeting, including prior appropriation and reiterated that feedback from the Roundtables to the IBCC is critical to the success ofthe process. Discussion proceeded to the needs assessments. Carrie Campbell with the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) and the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (P A WSD) started her presentation with a thank you to CWCB for the SWSI report, for initiating the roundtable process, and for developing the precipitation modeling tool for dam safety designs, which has been very helpful to her organizations. She did, however, question using the state demographer numbers in the SWSI report who missed the 2004 population by 40% when estimated in 1994. The discrepancy was partially due to permanent population versus transient numbers due to tourism in the SJWCD/P A WSD service territory. Carrie then provided background information on the SJWCD and the P A WSD, including water demand proj ections through 2040. Although major projects such as the enlargement of Stevens Reservoir, the Dutton Ditch pipeline (complete in 2005), and the San Juan River Project treatment plant and reservoir (on line in March 2002) have all been successfully completed, there still remains a critical need for additional raw water storage. The Dry Gulch Reservoir Project is estimated to cost $150 million. It will likely take more than 20 years to complete, but would provide an additional 35,000 acre-feet (AF) of storage capacity. Carrie reviewed some of the aggressive conservation programs the Districts have undertaken, including education and utilization of the Water Information Program Circuit Rider. Although they have seen significant reductions in water use from these programs, there remain additional raw water storage requirements. Some ofthe problems/challenges they foresee include: 1) funding; 2) permitting; 3) CWCB support with permitting; 4) education; 5) regulatory issues; 6) manpower to keep up with increased workload; and 7) increases in [potential] litigation, which requires more time and money. Carrie also mentioned that the Town of Pagosa Springs is considering applying for a Recreational In-Channel Diversions (RICD) and is in the process of another restoration phase on the San Juan River. After Carrie's presentation, there was a question related to the 404 permit on Stevens Reservoir and whether a study had been done on the existing system and growth. Carrie informed the group that the 404 permitting process was somewhat quicker on the Stevens project because it is an existing reservoir, but that the permitting process for the Dry Gulch Reservoir will likely be substantially longer. The group was then informed that the state has used about half of the $1.2 million to establish a team of professional consultants (the Basin advisors - CDM team) to help provide technical assistance. The state would like to see each of the roundtables submit a list as a task order related to their needs. This can be done in a broad sense, such as in a bullet format. The contractor will then contact each group regarding more detail. It was suggested that a roundtable session be used for a needs assessment to determine all of the things to be done, submit this to the state group, and they will give the support to further develop. It was noted, however, that there was no need to hold up the project funding process while the needs assessment is being conducted. There was a suggestion that the roundtable could use some help developing threshold versus evaluation criteria. 1