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APPENDIX D. PLATTE RIVER RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM ? Attachment S Section 1 Program Water Management Process August 8, 2006 Described below is the Program's water management process and the relationship of the FWS's Environmental Account (EA) Manager and the Program to that process. The relationship is also shown in Figure 1 of the Organizational Structure Document (Attachment 6). 1. Background a. Water projects throughout the Platte River basin are operated by various entities in accordance with each state's water laws. The responsibility for accounting, tracking, regulating, and. protecting water rests with each state's water administration. Pi.ir,§ppnt tp FE,gq,zeli?p,nsing,rqquirqmpqts,, an,Epilirpnmeptal Agcount (EA) was established in Lake McConaughy. A contract between Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (CNPPID) and the FWS authorized the FWS's representative, the EA Manager, to reqizest releases of EA water pursuant to the terms of the contract. The EA Manager • is an ernployee of tne FWS and has the responsibility to manage, request releases from, and coordinate operations of the EA. The EA Manager also develops the EA Annual Operating Plan (AOP), inclnding the demands for the EA water. c. Pursuant to FERC relicensing requirerrients, the document entitled, An Environmental Accountfor Storage Reservoirs on the Pdatte River System in Nebraska (Attachment 5, Section 5) establishes an Environinental Account Committee (EAC) and Reservoir Coordinating Committee (RCC). The EAC is chaired by the EA Manager and provides guidance/input to the EA Manager for the development of the EA AOP. The RCC provides a forum to coordinate the arinual operating plans of other projeets and to discuss projected water supp(y conditions in the basin. The RCC is for coordination purposes only. d. The EA Manager, EAC, and RCC, created to meet FERC relicensing requirements, will continue to exist with or without the Program. e. Relative to Program water management, Project Sponsors include the states in their tracking, accounting, rebulatijig, and protecting Program water; the federal government and the states in the management of their respective depletions plans; CNPPID for the EA in Lake McConaughy; the State of Colorado for Tamarack I; and the State of Wyoming for the Pathfinder Modification Project. In addition, the Program Water Plan provides opportunity for parties outside the Program to enter into cooperative arrangements with the Signatories for meeting Program water goals. ? LJ Water Year 2008 EA AOP 29 October 15, 2007