14d

• Board Meeting Date: 9/17/2008
• Description: Director's Report - CWCB Director
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

in and above the 15-Mile Reach. The list of consultations reflects more than 49,000 AF of new
depletions; however, many of the larger depletions consulted on have not yet been developed. (Randy
Seaholm)
PROPOSED RULE REGULATING USE OF LOWER COLORADO RIVER WITHOUT
ENTITLEMENT(USBR-43-CFRPart 415): On July 16th, Reclamation published a proposed rule
in the Federal Register (73 FR 137, 40916-40932, July 16, 2008) regarding the regulation of the use of
Lower Colorado River water without a valid entitlement. The proposed rule, "establishes procedures that
Reclamation will follow in making determinations of unlawful use of lower Colorado River water. The
rule includes notice and appeal procedures for those persons and entities whose use of lower Colorado
River water is identified as unlawful."
Current data show that Colorado River water used in the Lower Basin without an entitlement and outside
of existing water delivery service areas ranges between 9,000 and 15,000 acre-feet per year. The amount
of lower Colorado River water pumped by wells and river pumps within service areas that are not
accounted for under existing entitlements is unknown. The largest amount of unlawful use occurs via
groundwater pumping for irrigation from wells located on the Colorado River floodplain. However, the
majority of the unlawful uses consist of households that pump small amounts for domestic uses from
wells located on the Colorado River floodplain.
At Reclamation's request the U.S. Geological Survey has developed a method to identify wells that take
water from the Colorado River. The USGS method identifies the River Aquifers and a theoretical
accounting surface within the River Aquifer. The accounting surface was developed with a groundwater
model and represents the elevation and extent of the river aquifer that is hydraulically connected with the
lower Colorado River. Several thousand wells are located within the boundaries of the River Aquifer
which the USGS is in the process of identifying. The rule will inform unlawful users of ways to bring
their uses into compliance. Comments were due on September 15th and we provided comments that were
supportive of implementing the proposed rule. (Randy Seaholm)
COLORADO RIVER DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (CRDSS): The Water Information
Section has taken on the responsibility for developing a scope of work for the water availability study for
the Colorado River, as well as the implementation of it. We have hired Ross Bethel to help coordinate the
technical side of the study. We have met with the IBCC and Colorado Roundtables to get feedback on the
scope; we have gone through the selection process and have selected Boyle Engineering and have
finalized the detailed scope of work. We are now waiting for the State Controller to accept a waiver for
language in the contract regarding indemnification. We are hopeful this will be resolved and the Boyle
team will begin working on the study in September. With the scope review process and the contract
waiver issue, it is anticipated that Phase 1 will be completed in August, 2009. (Ray Alvarado)
UPPER COLORADO RIVER WILD AND SCENIC ALTERNATIVES GROUP: The Upper
Colorado River Wild and Scenic alternatives group submitted a scope of work and request for funding of
up to $68,000 for completion of Phase II in the development of additional information to submit to BLM,
which must be accomplished this fall. Director Gimbel has approved this request of disbursement of
funds from the Wild and Scenic fund with the understanding that additional money may be needed for
~~ 16