11d

• Board Meeting Date: 1/22/2008
• Description: CF Section – Construction Fund and Severance Tax Trust Fund Perpetual Base Account – New Loans - Republican River Water Conservation District - Republican River Compact Compliance Pipeline Project
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

One of the water rights offered is decreed to
Julesburg Reservoir and for direct flow
Resources appear to include both

rrigation
the direct

reported by SP
storage water

7.

is likely
pipeline to
right change case
certainty. Contested water right change cases typically take 3
and include terms and conditions to protect other water users.

The change of the South Platte water rights in
approved by the Colorado water court at this time and
many objectors. It is highly doubtful that the
constructed until the outcome of the water

the SP Resources proposal has not been
to be highly contested by
deliver water would be
was known with some
to complete

to 4 years

6

SP Resources proposal to recharge the High Plains aquifer in the Frenchman Creek
basin does not make sense from an economic standpoint. The $22 million cost of a 15
mile pipeline to the upper reaches of Frenchman Creek plus the $60 million cost of the
water would result in a recharge project costing $82 million for 10,000 ac-ftlyr of
recharge. This is a unit cost of $8,200 per ac-ft. Recharge in the Frenchman Creek
drainage basin would not assist Colorado in complying with the compact because most
of the water would go into storage. Moreover, the most cost-effective form of recharge is
to leave the water in the aquifer in the first place by not pumping the water out. The
RRWCD is currently using the leverage of federal money under the Republican River
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) to retire irrigated acres, which
effectively recharges the aquifer. Under the current Republican River CREP program,
matching federal funds allow the RRWCD WAE to leverage every 1 dollar of local funds
into 5 to 10 dollars in terms of land retirement. Therefore, the Republican River CREP
program can be used to develop a 10,000 ac-ft of recharge project for about $5 million
(8,000 acres x 1.25 af/ac of consumptive use x $3,500/acre x 15%). The SP Resources
proposal to recharge the Frenchman Creek drainage basin is 16 times more expensive
than the Republican River CREP program that is already in place. In addition the
Republican River CREP results in the recharge being distributed throughout the basin
and not just in one drainage sub basin.

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SP Resources proposal

SP Resources proposes that some or all of this water could be recharged into the High
Plains aquifer. Any water recharged into the aquifer only counts toward Colorado's
compact compliance after it travels through the groundwater system and becomes
streamflow that reaches the state line or a compact gaging station. The vast majority of
the recharge water would never reach the North Fork, but would go into aquifer storage.
As the compact accounting is currently structured, Colorado would only receive credit for
22% of the water that would reach the North Fork as flow to the state line. The benefit to
Colorado would be minimal to zero for any water recharged to the aquifer as part of the

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pipeline is $1.5 million per mile. The cost
approximately $120 million instead of the $41

mile long pipeline
million cost estimated by SP Resources.

The cost of the SP Resources project pipeline is represented to be $750,000 per mile.
Based on GEl Consultants estimated cost for a 36" pipeline, a more realistic cost for the
for an 80 will be

.........~

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