South Platte - ParkerSummarySheet

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Discussion: Parker Water and Sanitation District's efforts should be commended in furthering important research that could ultimately produce a significant amount of water for municipal and industrial uses in Colorado while sustaining agriculture and associated rural communities. PWSD and CSU's research of deficit irrigation and/or varying cropping patterns may plow the way for farms to continue production (albeit with a lower average consumptive use of water) and transfer the difference between the historical CU and the reduced CU for M&I uses. One of the key goals of the program is to advance alternative transfer methods from the literature to actual on the ground projects/programs that provide reliable water supply and sustain key elements of the agricultural area from which the water is transferred. While this application has many important elements that are important in their own right and will certainly further the areas of agricultural sciences and economics, the project as described in the scope of work appears to be more academic in nature than desired. Staff hoped the scope of work included a more detailed analysis of how one can permanently transfer a portion of historical consumptive use. Current Colorado Water Law may currently allow the transfer of a portion of historical consumptive use, but the important question of how will such a change actually occur and how will the State Engineer administer it does not appear to addressed in this application. Presumably, once decreed, the agricultural lands will need to be monitored to ensure that the consumptive use does not increase beyond the amount reduced amount. The applicant intends to apply a remote sensing-GIS based model (ReSET) to demonstrate consumptive water use savings for limited irrigation fields. If this proves to be a useful tool in measuring the CU from a giving irrigated field, it could pave the way for a more streamlined analysis of CU as opposed to the more tradition methods (e.g. Penman Monteith, Blaney Griddle). Also, the South Platte Regional Assessment Tool (SPRAT) will be used to assess the affects on the basin's hydrology from water leasing and rotational fallowing. It is uncertain from the scope of work if this tool is refined/detailed sufficiently to determine impacts other than on a planning/basin scale. It is also unclear if the tool incorporates groundwater or if it is strictly a surface water model. One key consideration that was not adequately addressed is the ability and means of PWSD delivering the transferable consumptive use to the metro area for M&I use. This could be a very significant factor when examining the feasibility of such a project as infrastructure and O&M costs could be high. An examination of the exchange potential as well as water quality issues would also be very valuable. Issues/Additional Needs: • Applicant specified that the matching funds consisted of $489,025 and that PWSD has currently spent this amount as of March 31, 2008. The eligibility requirement (#6) of the program's criteria and guidelines specify that a minimum of 10% cash match of total project cost and that past expenditures can not be counted toward the 10% match.