25d ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 11/18/2007
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

-12-
"Climate change is very much on our minds," said Ben Grumbles, EPA's assistant administrator for water.
Mountain snow packs from California to New Mexico are shrinking, sending water downstream earlier.
Eric Kuhn, general manager of the Colorado River District, said about 10 percent of Colorado River
supplies will be lost to climate change. The river provides 13.2 million acre-feet of water to seven
Western states annually and is currently the Interior West's primary water source. A final plan for how
Colorado River Basin states can share the pain of a shortage in the basin is due "any day," Kuhn said.
As traditional supplies like the Colorado River become over-tapped, water managers will need to
diversify their sources, several experts said. "We need a diversified portfolio of water supplies to hedge
our bets," said Jeanine Jones, interstate resources manager for the California Department of Water
Resources.
Increasingly, water-strapped Western states will be looking at overlooked sources, such as storm water
runoff. Communities in California have begun reusing storm water, and other areas, including Colorado,
are considering it. In some states, however, such as New Mexico, state laws bar tapping runoff for urban
uses, because it is needed in streams to meet irrigation and interstate compact needs.
Celeste Cantu of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority in Riverside, Calif., said her region is
focusing on conservation, storage and recycling. "If we do those three things, we'll be much better off in
the future," she said.
Others said they see much of the West's future water demand being met through transfers from
agricultural lands to cities.
Labatt of the Texas Water Development Board said his state has considered creating new storage but that
developing reservoirs is difficult because of "landowner and environmental concerns."
Melinda Kassen, managing director of Trout Unlimited's Western Water Project, urged water managers to
consider conservation first and said that communities should integrate growth and water supply planning.
She did not denounce new storage, but said while it "should be part of the mix," storage projects should
be "smart" and have a small ecological footprint.
U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson told the conference that any potential solution to meeting water
demand needs to take environmental impacts into account. "Environmental responsibility is everybody's
responsibility," he said.
STATEWIDE
NEW MEXICO ~`'EATHER MODIFICATION: A contract has been reach with the State of New
Mexico that will bring $42,000 to Colorado for expanded weather modification programs in the San Juan
River Basin.
CWCB STAFF FORMS INFORMAL RECREATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (IRAC):
The staff formed an informal recreational advisory committee ("IRAC") to discuss ways that recreational
opportunities can be encouraged and enhanced by the Board and the Board staff. The Staff will be
expanding this group and working with them over the next several months to see if there are ways to
promote water based recreation within Colorado, while assuring that the Board can meet its other
responsibilities. Ted Kowalski is heading up IRAC, please talk to him if you have any questions or ideas
for this process.
Flood Protection • Water Project Planning and Finance • Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection • Conservation Plaiming