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<br />Agenda Item 17 <br />July 11-12,2007 Board meeting <br />Page 2 00 <br /> <br />acre-feet. We should note that additional study would be required to evaluate the impacts <br />of water right administration, compact limitations, water transfers etc. <br /> <br />Furthermore, the Upper Basin made depletion projects which were utilized by the federal <br />Water and Power and Service for power rate studies. One set of those projects is <br />contained in their August 1980 Projected Water Supply and Depletions Report. In the <br />Water and Power Resources Service's Report, the detailed development plans for Tracts <br />Ca and Cb were estimated to consume approximately 78,000 AF in support of a 400,000 <br />bbl\day operation, exclusive of water for spin-off growth. This amounted to an estimated <br />9,750 AF per 50,000 bbl\day production. A value of80,000 AF\year has been carried in <br />Colorado's future depletion calculations since that time. <br /> <br />Estimated Uses in 2005: <br />As part of the SWSI study, energy water needs were examined in the <br />Yampa/White/Green basin. This topic was examined at three of the basin roundtable <br />meetings. The focus of these discussions was on water needs for coal, power production, <br />oil shale, and soda mining. <br /> <br />Water use and needs data were obtained directly and by reference from the BBC Yampa <br />River Basin Water Demands Study, which was completed as part of the Programmatic <br />Biological Opinion for Endangered Species in the Yampa River. SWSI concluded that <br />there would be si!:,'11ificant water needs for increased power production in the Craig and <br />Hayden areas. No significant water needs were identified relative to soda production. <br /> <br />For the basin as a whole, it was generally concluded that future municipal, domestic and <br />the above needs have adequate water supplies in Stagecoach, Yamcolo, Elkhead <br />Reservoir and the Enlargement of Elkhead Reservoir. However, some upper basin <br />domestic shortages are likely in certain subbasins (i.e., Morrison Creek) and localized <br />agricultural shortages will also occur. <br /> <br />Discussions regarding oil shale development produced a variety of opinions and <br />challenges. Some felt oil shale development was imminent while others were not certain <br />whether signi fie ant development would occur. A number of factors were identified that <br />made quantifying the demands difficult. These factors included: <br />. Effects of international market for crude oil <br />. Concerns over national security <br />· Uncertainty regarding proprietary processing methods resulting in water use estimates <br />from 2-5 barrels of water per barrel of oil produced from shale, and uncertainty <br />regarding the amount of water needed for other methods of energy production. <br />· Uncertainty regarding the rate of scale up from research and development, scale up <br />confirmation, initial commercial production and production growth <br />.. Uncertainty regarding the amount of produced water that might be expected and <br />potentially utilized. <br />