14d ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 7/22/2008
• Description: Directors' Reports - CWCB Director
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

On June 13, 2008, the Division 4 Water Court decreed an instream flow water right to the CWCB on
Eider Creek in Case No. 02CW267 for 1.0 cfs (March 15 -May 14), 5.25 cfs (May 15 -July 14), 1.0 cfs
(July 15 -December 14) and 0.85 cfs (December 15 -March 14), with an appropriation date of January
23, 2002. The upstream terminus of the IS reach is the headwaters and the downstream terminus is at
highway 145. The ISF reach is approximately 2.5 miles long. The CWCB entered into a stipulation with
Sunnyside Development Company, LC and RMOF Telluride, LLOC for the entry of the decree. (Linda
Bassi)
UPDATE ON TACOMA POWER PLANT RELICENSING PROCESS -The Public Service
Company of Colorado d/b/a Xcel Energy is in the process of relicensing its Tacoma Hydroelectric Project
before FERC. The Tacoma Project is located on Cascade Creek and the Animas River just north of
Durango. Xcel owns the water rights to divert the flows of Cascade Creek into a conduit that then
delivers those flows to the Little Cascade Creek watershed, and hence into Electra Lake. From Electra
Lake, the water is diverted into a penstock to the Tacoma Powerhouse in the Animas River canyon. The
relicensing process, which started in July 2004, is scheduled for completion in February 2010. Based
upon a request from Xcel to proceed as contemplated in the Apri12004 MOU between the USFS and the
State of Colorado, representatives of Xcel, the CDOW, the CWCB, the DNR, and the USFS and BLM
have been meeting regularly to collaborate on developing an alternative approach to a bypass flow to
meet the USFS requirements for mitigation of the impacts of the operation of the power plant.
Representatives of the Southwestern Water Conservation District and the San Juan Citizens Alliance also
participate in the meetings. Xcel filed its final license application on June 25, 2008. FERC issued a
procedural schedule for processing the application, set forth below:
Application Deficiency Determination Letter and
Issuance of Additional Information Requests (AIRS) July 2008
Notice ofAcceptance/Notice of Ready for
Environmental Analysis August 2008
Filing of Interventions, Recommendations,
Terms and Conditions, and Fishway Prescriptions October 2008
Reply Comments Due December 2008
Issuance of Draft EA January 2009
Comments on Draft EA Due February 2009
Filing of Modified Terms and Conditions April 2009
Issuance of Final EA July 2009
On July 9, 2008, the group met and discussed the procedural schedule and agreed to try to develop a
proposal to submit to FERC via an amendment by Xcel to the license application by the end of
September. Members of the group reported on the results of their investigations into alternatives
discussed at the last meeting in May, and the group discussed the potential feasibility of those
alternatives. PSCo then presented a proposal to the group for input and discussion. After discussing
PSCo's proposal, the CDOW and USFS/BLM agreed to develop acounter-proposal for discussion at the
next meeting on August 18, and PSCo agreed to follow up on several questions and requests for
information from the group. (Linda Bassi)
SNODAS RIO GRANDE PROJECT - $25K in Severance Tax funds hired Riverside Technologies
Inc of Fort Collins to complete a project entitled "Adaptation of SNODAS for Water Supply Decisions in
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