09d

• Board Meeting Date: 3/18/2008
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

PLATTE RIVER BASIN
CHATFIELD RESERVOIR REALLOCATION PROJECT -CWCB staff continues to work
with a large coalition of interested stakeholders to pursue water supply storage space in Chatfield
Reservoir. The Corps of Engineers has released Preliminary Draft Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 6 of the
Feasibility Report/Environmental Impact Statement (FR/EIS), and those chapters are being internally
reviewed by the cooperating entities. The remaining chapters are expected to be released in the next few
weeks. Coordination among affected DNR agencies (CWCB, State Parks, DOW, and DWR) is increasing
in a positive manner in anticipation of the public comment period later this year when the Draft EIS is
released.
In early March, Dan McAuliffe and Tom Browning led a group of project stakeholders to Washington
D.C. for meetings with headquarters staff at the Corps of Engineers as well as with all nine members of
Colorado's Congressional Delegation.
WATER FLOW TEST FOR PLATTE RIVER -There will be more water in the Platte River next
month as the federal government tests the use of an environmental account of water stored at Lake
McConaughy.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says monitors will evaluate the river's water-carrying capacity at
North Platte, use of Johnson Lake to regulate river flows, water travel times and actual gains in the critical
habitat area for protected whooping cranes, least terns and piping plovers.
The government-managed environmental account is 10 percent of the annual storable natural river flows
into Lake McConaughy. The account is used as part of the Platte River Recovery Implementation
Program involving the federal government, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska.
CWCB AWARDS WATER CONSERVATION PLANNING GRANT TO THE PINERY
WATER AND WASTEWATER DISTRICT -The Pinery Water and Wastewater District, a
covered entity located in unincorporated northern Douglas County, Colorado, was awarded $19,920 from
the Water Efficiency Grant Program to aid in developing a Water Conservation Plan that meets the
requirements outlined in §37-60-126 C.R.S. The District's water needs are currently being met by
Denver Basin aquifers and Cherry Creek Alluvial wells. Specifically the District relies on seven alluvial
wells (tributary groundwater from the Cherry Creek Alluvium) and 12 deep wells (non-tributary
groundwater from the Denver Basin aquifers). The District presently serves over 3,800 single-family
units (SFUs) and has a projected a total build out of 5,851 (SFUs) in the next ten years. With the build
out, the required amount of water needed is approximately 4,700 acre-feet annually. To meet this demand
they will need to derive some water from a deeper Denver Basin source which is expected to increase in
cost and therefore result in higher rates. The District realizes the importance of water conservation. It
plans to meet its aggressive goal of 20% reduction in water use over the next ten to thirteen years. The
District has demonstrated their financial ability to provide 26% of the total project budget with matching
funds in the form of $$6,985 in-kind contributions. With the assistance of Great Western Institute 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. The planning process began in March 2008, and is scheduled for CWCB's
approval in December 2008.
H.R. 1462 AND THE PLATTE RIVER RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION
AUTHORIZATION ACT: The U.S. Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee amended and
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