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<br />San Juan/Dolores/San Miguel Basin Roundtable Technical Meeting #1 <br />Meeting Summary <br /> <br />. Fish & Wildlife Service demands are another demand to be considered <br />. Agricultural water rights differ in priority and water shortage can create financial difficulties <br />. Bureau of Reclamation standard for reliability is: <br />- Less than 50 percent shortage in any 1 year <br />- Less than 75 percent shortage in 2 years <br />- 100 percent shortage in 10 years <br />. Consider intangible values for reliability <br />- Need to find an approach to quantify these values <br />. Colorado Water Law vs. Reliability, i.e., junior instream flow rights reliability must be <br />achieved within the context of the law <br />. Supply impacted by drought; demands impacted by growth and land use <br />- Be realistic about growth <br />- Droughts may be more frequent and must be considered in the context of reliability <br />. Drought spurred some operational changes affecting water rights <br />. Need better ways to predict drought - don't know you are in a drought until well within the <br />drought <br />. Domestic/M&I only 5 percent of total water use in Colorado - real conflict is between <br />agriculture and environmental/ recreation/ endangered species <br />. Planning horizon could/ should consider 40- to 50-year timelines <br /> <br />2. Maximize Efficient Use of Existing Supply <br /> <br />Draft Subobjectives Presented <br />. Use appropriate-quality water for appropriate uses <br />. Increase reuse and exchanges <br />. Increase efficiency of use <br />. Reduce evaporation and conveyance losses <br />. Continued promotion of conservation best management practices <br /> <br />Comments <br />. Conservation <br />. Reducing transit losses <br />. Minimize waste by being more efficient <br />. Should agriculture line ditches? Consider the impacts on return flows <br />. May need to change people's perception of the value of water <br />. Colorado Water Law impacts any move towards agriculture efficiency <br />. South La Plata groundwater is a result of agricultural irrigation <br />- Some agricultural users heavily rely on return flows from other "inefficient" uses <br />. Need to realize that agricultural return flows supply others and must look at long-term <br />impacts of any efforts to improve" efficiency" <br />. Wildlife can benefit from agricultural return flows and in some cases may rely on these flows <br />. The sale or transfer of a few percent of total agricultural water use can help meet M&I <br />demands and result in the agricultural users receiving funds for system improvements <br /> <br />CDIVI <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />SJD BRT Mtg #1 Summary-final.doc 11/14/2003 <br />