BOARD04W

• Board Meeting Date: 9/13/2003
• Description: CF Section - Finance Committee Meeting
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

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OFFICE OF THE STATE ENGINEER
Division of Water Resources
Department of Natural Resources

1313 Sherman Street, Room 818
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone [phone]
FAX [phone]

July 14, 2004

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MEMORANDUM

Bill Owens
Governor

Russell George
Executive Director

Hal D. Simpson, P.E.
State Engineer

www.water.state.co.us

To: Rod Kuharich, Director of Colorado Water Conservation Division

Cc: Jack Byers, Dave Dzurovchin, Tom Ley, Mike Serlet; Jeff Baessler, and Dan McAuliffe

From:ro~, Simpson, State Engineer~~

RE: Division of Water Resources ~~e--Iinked Monitoring System
DWR and CWCB Flood Hardening of Existing Stream Gages

The Colorado Division of Water Resources requests $303,000 from the CWCB Construction fund for FY04.
The funds are for continued, long-tenn operational viability of the over 300 satellite-linked water monitoring
sites, renovation of existing gaging stations, replacement of out-dated data collection platfonns and
upgrading transmission components. In addition, many existing gaging stations need to be modified to .
provide critical stream flow data for flood waming and low flow monitoring. The specific distribution of the
funds requested is as follows: .

1. 248,000 for replacement of 45 out-dated Data Collection Platfonns and associated Satellite
Telemetry Equipment and upgrading satellite transmission components. This request is the third
phase of a continuing replacement program,

2. 55,000 for refurbishing existing stream gages as needed to maintain operational reliability of stream
flow data. This request is anticipated to be an annual cost due to deterioration and projected life
expectancy of the physical and mechanical aspects of the stream gages,

DWR and CWCB, jointly, request $50,000 for flood hardening stream gages. A committee of
representatives of DWR, CWCS and the USGS has identified forty sites where flood-hardening projects
would be useful in flood warning and notification. The cost to modify many of these gages to withstand
flood events will vary considerably. Each site Is being evaluated for required modifications to flood harden
the gage.

Introduction

The Division of Water Resources and CWCB consistent with Section 37-60-121 and Section 37-80-102
C.R.S., continue to improve the utility of the stream gaging program to support multi-agency and water
user needs such as flood forecasting and waming, water rights administration, compact protection, and
Decision Support System implementation and use. DWR must maintain the electronics in satellite-linked
data collection stations, refurbish the station structure and non-electronic hardware for stations that are
deteriorating, harden certain key stations against flood events so that we can continue to collect critical, .
real-time stream flow data in times of flood, and continue, as necessary, the operation of vital gages which
are currently operated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). This Is part of a continuing annual
request for funds to support this program.