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:1 II . " ,I ii il . II . 'I Ii :i ,I Western States Water Council Water Resources Committee Minutes Sheridan, Wyoming October 5, 2006 figures. They used the planning process that the individual water providers were developing amongst themselves. They needed to have buy in from the water users, so they accepted their plans. In doing that, it created a looming problem, because many times the plans they were presented with, the projects that were on the board for development, included the same water that the community next door was looking at also. It also included projects, large and small, that to one degree or another face significant environmental or permitting problems. The state had asked the Bureau of Reclamation and 2025 to be a partner, but Reclamation refused. In general terms, they found that three major river basins in the state will see shortfalls by 2030. The two that w<:re no surprise to anybody were the Platte and the Arkansas, which also hold more than 85% of the state's population. The surprising basin shortfall it appears will occur in the mainstem of the Colorado. Two trends are occurring there. One, the headwaters of the Colorado provide water not only for Colorado, but also for the Platte and the Arkansas. Secondly, the mainstem of the Colorado was seeing significantly larger growth rates than other portions of the state. Their planning has admittedly lagged behind their growth rate. Much of that was due to the mentality that, "the water is always there, and we just pull it out of the river." Significant projects are now being talked about basin-by-basin. The state has looked at an aggressive conservation plan for all areas of the state. Even with conservation plugged into the planning process, there will be shortfalls. Thus, Colorado is looking at needed new infras1ructure. Additionally, they found that some basins are heavily reliant on one or two projects. Colorado faces significant issues with the planning process. The plan is located on the internet. Rod has assigned Rick Brown on his staff to work with western states to provide any information they need. North Dakota Dale Frink stated that he believes North Dakota could provide all of the information being sought on the states water supplies and needs. They have been doing a state water plan for forty years, and it is updated on a regular basis. They canvass all of the counties and the locals for their projects and water needs, and the state also has some projects and water needs. That is all put into a state water plan. One of the state's significant needs is flood control. There is a large section of the plan devoted to water supply. North Dakota's plan is similar to South Dakota's in that the majority of the plan focuses on projects and funding requirements. If they go back to the individual projects, most of them have environmental assessment or environmental impact statements that include population projections. All of our water permits, including their annual use are posted on the internet. Kansas Dave Pope noted that a separate entity known as the Kansas Water Office is responsible for the state water plan. The most current iteration of planning began in the 1980s. He would characterize the Kansas state water plan a little different than other states in that it is more policy and issue oriented. There is a basin plan for each of the twelve basins in the state, and there are statewide policy sections. Much of the plan is not as quantitative as perhaps some of the plans we've heard about here. This is done through a public process, in terms of advisory committees and working with stakeholder groups, and so forth. 7