CDSS_2002_Annual_Report

• Title: CDSS 2002 Annual Report
• Description: A recap of the work done for and by the Colorado Decision Support Systems.
• Decision Support - Doc Type: Publication
• Date: 1/1/2003
• DSS: All
• Basin: Statewide
• Prepared By: CWCB

Colorado River Basin
There have been numerous activities that started in
2001 and continued into 2002 within the various
West Slope Basins that required the use of the
CRDSS surface water planning models. The
Yampa River basin model is still being used
extensively in the formulation of "A Management
Plan for the Yampa River Basin," which is intended
to promote the recovery of its endangered fishes.
Currently, the monthly Gunnison River model is
being updated to include 2000 data, as well as the
development of a daily data set. This updated
monthly and daily data set will be used in
understanding potential impact of the Upper
Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program
and the quantification of the National Park Service
reserved water rights filing in the Black Canyon of
the Gunnison.
Additional modeling activities are occurring on the
Colorado River as part of the Coordinated Facility
Operation Study and on the San Juan River related
to the re-operation of Navajo Reservoir. The water
resource planning model has recently been upgraded
to better reflect the water uses by irrigators. With
the model upgrade, the existing river basin water
resource planning models need to be modified to
reflect this update.
An update of the GIS irrigated acreage coverages
was completed this year for the entire Western
Slope. The contractor, Spatial Sciences & Imaging,
worked for most of the year gathering data,
including year 2000 satellite imagery, and working
with water commissioners to create an accurate
picture of the irrigated lands in the Colorado River
basin for the year 2000. These new coverages will
be available for download from the CDSS website
in early 2003. The new data will also be added to
Hydrobase in January 2003.
Work was also done in cooperation with the Upper
Gunnison River Water Conservancy District and the
Colorado River Water Conservation District to
complete a water use study using several CDSS
tools.
South Platte River Basin
With the feasibility study done, efforts began this
year to collect data for the South Platte Decision
Support System (SPDSS). Contracts for the data
collection part of the SPDSS were finalized, and
scopes of work for groundwater, surface water,
consumptive use, and spatial work are available
online. The contracts are for the first 2 phases of
the SPDSS.
The SPDSS will encompass the entire South Platte
and North Platte River basins. The South Platte
River basin study area includes all of Division 1
except Water Districts 49 and 65, which cover the
Republican River drainage. The North Platte River
basin study area includes Water District 47 in
Division 6 and Water Districts 48 and 76 in
Division 1.
2003 Goals
This coming year will be devoted to maintaining the
existing CDSS, continuing with the first phase of
the South Platte data collection effort, and
completing the Rio Grande groundwater model.
The CWCB Board, at its November 2002 meeting,
authorized funding for two projects, the Colorado
River Return Project (CRRP) Feasibility Study and
the Statewide Water Supply Initiative (SWSI). Both
of these projects have incorporated the use of the
available decision support systems in the Scopes of
Work. These projects will provide valuable
examples of how these systems can be used to
evaluate different water delivery and demand
scenarios, and will also provide the data necessary
to formulate those scenarios.
The CWCB, with the support of DWR, prepared a
Decision Item which requested 3 FTE's, a program
coordinator, a ground water modeler, and a GIS
Specialist, along with the monies for contract work
associated with specialized work tasks. This
Decision Item was approved in 2002. The 3 FTE's
are expected to be filled sometime in 2003.