20b

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

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This fact has drawn the concern of Grand Valley irrigators represented by the Grand Valley
Water Users Association, the Grand Valley Irrigation Company, the Orchard Mesa Irrigation
District, the Palisade Irrigation District, and the Mesa County Irrigation District, as well as by
Denver Water, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the Bureau of Reclamation,
Colorado Springs Utilities, the Colorado Division of Water Resources and the Colorado River
District.

The entities agreed to target flow rates of 1,200 cfs in Glenwood Canyon through Labor Day
and 810 cfs in the 15-Mile Endangered Fish Critical Reach in the Grand Valley through
October.

Administering these targets will protect endangered fish as a first priority through the irrigation
season while providing the side benefit of recreational flows at least through Labor Day.

Water will be provided from Green Mountain Reservoir and Granby Reservoir (Reclamation and
Northern Water), Wolford Mountain Reservoir (Colorado River District), and Williams Fork
Reservoir (Denver Water). Water will be released at the direction of the US. Fish and Wildlife
Service and the Bureau of Reclamation. The irrigation entities agreed to participate in the
management of their entitlements in Green Mountain Reservoir so that the senior irrigation
demands and fish flows can be met throughout the season.

Additional consideration is being given to maintain flows for trout fisheries in the Upper
Colorado River in Grand County in late August and early September.

CWCB AWARDS WATER CONSERVATION PLANNING GRANT TO RIFLE: The
City of Rifle, an entity located in western Garfield County east of Grand Junction, Colorado, was
awarded $31,665 to aid in developing a Water Conservation Plan that meets the requirements
outlined in SB 07-008. Rifle has a current retail water use of 1,860 acre-feet/year, which means
it does not currently meet the definition ofa covered entity, under statute S37-60-126 C.R.S.
However, due to their recent population growth rate at 5.5%, the entity has estimated to exceed a
retail water use of 2,000 acre-feet/year by 2008. With the assistance of Schmueser Gordon
Meyer, Inc. Consulting Finn the applicant will use the CWCB's Water Conservation Plan
Guidance Document as a framework for the Plan's organization and content, incorporating the
State's 9 planning steps and addressing the statutory requirements for all plans. A key objective
of the 9-Step planning process to be used by the City in developing its Plan is to target a level of
water conservation that, to some degree, pays for itself through avoided infrastructure and
operational costs. The planning process has begun in September 2007, and is scheduled for
CWCB's approval in April 2008, at which time the entity will be eligible for water efficiency
grant money to assist with implementing their plan.

COLORADO RIVER BASIN SALINITY CONTROL PROGRAM: The fall 2007 Forum
and Advisory Council meetings will held in Santa Fe, NM on October 30-31. The Work Group
will be meeting in Glenwood Springs on September 11-13, and again in Santa Fe on October 29.
The WG has begun analyzing salinity concentration projections as it prepares to draft the 2008
Triennial Review of the Colorado River Water Quality Standards for Salinity. The issue USDA
producer cost-share rates remains, as we have not heard how USDA intends to implement the
Advisory Council Sub-Committee's June 2007 recommendation. Resolution of this could impact

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