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• Board Meeting Date: 3/18/2008
• Description: CF Section - Severance Tax Trust Fund Operational Account Recommendations
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

6. Elkhead Creek Transit Loss Study
Beneficiary/Grantee/Contractor: USGS, Various
Amount of Request: $66,000 Ranking: High
Product Produced: Elkhead Reservoir is located on Elkhead Creek, a tributary to the Yampa
River, in the vicinity of Craig and helps to manage and support water-supply needs in the Yampa
Basin. These needs include cooling water for apower-generating station at Craig; maintenance of
minimum streamflows through critical endangered fish habitat; and the diversion of water for
agricultural, domestic, and municipal uses. To ensure that the reservoir releases are adequate to
meet the downstream needs and are delivered at the proper time, water managers need to know the
travel time and transit loss for Elkhead reservoir releases. This information is needed to more
efficiently manage the river and address the needs of all river users; in particular the flow needs of
the endangered fish that are deemed necessary to maintain "sufficient progress" pursuant to Upper
Colorado River Recovery Implementation Program.
This request covers the initiation of field work and data collection in the first year of the study. The
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will then analyze the data and publish an interpretive report
summarizing the travel times and transit-loss characteristics of Elkhead Creek in the study reach. A
USGS Scientific Investigations Report (SIR) will be published in 2010, and will include amass-
balance analysis of selected streamflow data and a statistical comparison of discrete streamflow
measurements.
Water Planning Relationship: This information is critical to efficiently making releases from
Elkhead Reservoir to and through critical habitat for endangered fish while also assuring that
deliveries to Colorado's water users are not impaired. Consistent with the purposes of the Upper
Colorado River Recovery Program, this information is necessary in order for the program to
maintain "sufficient progress."
Recommendation: Staff gives a high recommendation to funding for this study because of the
linkages to the Upper Colorado River Recovery Implementation Program, which provides for the
recovery of endangered fish species while allowing water use and development to continue.
7. Water Resource Considerations of Raton Basin Coalbed Methane Produced Water
Beneficiary/Grantee/Conh•actor: Colorado Geological Survey (CGS), Various
Amount of Request: $126,600 Ranking: High
Product Produced: A study documenting enhanced knowledge of aquifer properties in the Raton
Basin being impacted by coalbed methane (CBM) production, following up on previous studies by
the USGS and CGS which have been funded by CWCB and the Department of Water Resources
(DWR). This information will be used to quantify the effects of CBM production on both surface
and groundwater resources in Las Animas County above Trinidad Reservoir.
Water Planning Relationship: Estimates of impacts will be used by local water users to better
manage water supplies and by regulatory agencies to limit and/or require mitigation for impacts that
injure senior water rights.
Recommendation: Staff gives a high recommendation to this project because it is a continuation
of existing funded work that addresses serious impacts of energy development in the study area and
will help protect limited water supplies in the region.
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