20b

• Board Meeting Date: 9/18/2007
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Aurora Water, and representatives from the CWCB, Bureau of Reclamation, USGS, NOAA, and
Western Water Assessment met to discuss the possibility of collaborating on a study to develop
future monthly virgin streamflow scenarios for provider watersheds. Each entity could use these
future streamflow scenarios in conjunction with their water rights allocation model to estimate
the impact of various climate change scenarios on their water supply. Since the providers all
obtain their water from the same general area, a joint proj ect would pool financial and human
resources for optimal benefit. This unified approach to analyzing the effects of climate change
should help the water providers better communicate with their customers and the media because
they would all be working with the same hydrometeorological data and using the same methods.

WATER QUALITY - WATER QUANTITY COORDINATION MEETING: The water
quality-water quantity coordination meeting took place in Room 719 at DNR on August 22,
2007. The main topics of discussion included the June standards setting hearing for the Arkansas
River at which Kansas asked for a more stringent limit for selenium at the Stateline, proposed
federal legislation to clarify or redefine the "waters of the United States" subject to the Clean
Water Act, federal EIS processes regarding oil shale leasing and in-situ uranium leach mining, an
update on the Colorado Watershed Protection Fund program (see below). In regards to the
stateline selenium standard issue the Commission rejected Kansas request to lower the standard,
but did commit to further study of the issue and a fall 2007 meeting with Kansas was scheduled
to further evaluate their concerns. There was some discussion of the need for an enhanced water
quality network in the basin, and the potential for ajoint effort between the USGS, SECWCD,
CWCB, and WQCD to better define needs and costs. With regards to "waters of the U.S."
legislation, WQCC Administrator Paul Frohardt was taking a lead role with the Western States
Water Council and shared a draft position statement that had been developed with input from the
Governor's Office. The WQCD is a cooperating agency on the BLM oil shale EIS and as such
filed detail comments on the first draft report. WQCD also shared a summary of the various
jurisdictional authorities related to the in-situ mining issue currently being addressed by the
Nuclear Regulatory Agency in a "Generic" EIS. Proposed in-situ uranium mining in western
Weld County is causing significant concerns about groundwater depletion and contamination,
but WQCD believes there is sufficient state authority to address those concerns during project
permitting.

WATER AVAILABILITY TASK FORCE UPDATE: The next meeting of the Water
Availability Task Force will be held on September 25,2007 at Denver Water from 1-3 :OOpm.
Task Force members will review streamflow and precipitation outlooks, reservoir conditions and
potential water supply impacts. The agenda will be posted and available on the CWCB website.

DITCH BILL UPDATE: As part of staff's continuing effOli to keep the Board informed of the
U.S. Forest Service's progress on the issuance of Ditch Bill Easements and related issues, the
following information was provided by Michele O'Connell, USFS. If you have questions
regarding this information, please contact Michele O'Connell at:

Michele O'Connell
USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region
Group Leader Lands Special Uses
[phone], FAX [phone]
[e-mail]

Flood Protection. Water Project Planning and Finance. Sn-eam and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation Planning