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• Board Meeting Date: 7/22/2009
• Description: WSP Section - Platte River Program - Water Obligation Issues
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Staff Recommendation
The Staff recommends that the B oard express their support for or present any concerns about the
concepts in the proposed MOU, the amended future depletions plan, and the water action plan.

Additional Background

By way of background, t he Program commits each State to certain wate r obligations ( for a total
credit of 80,000 acre - feet annually , on average, to retime w ater towards target flows at certain
habitat in Nebraska ) that covers depletions prior to 1997 .
provid es credit for 10,000 acre - feet, and is often referred to as Tamarack 1. Tamarack 1
infrastructure to retime up to 10,000 acre - feet from times of surplus at the ha bitat to times of
deficit at the habitat. In addition, each state has agreed to a future depletions plan to cover post -
1997 depletions . For Colorado the future depletions plan is called Tamarack 2. Finally, the
Program is required to develop a Water Act ion Plan to retime 50,000 to 70,000 acre feet of
water , on average, to certain habitat within Nebraska. Each State was required to include at least
one water project for consideration within the development of the Water Action Plan, and
Colorado included additional recharge projects in the lower South Platte River that could provide
up to 17,000 acre - feet of retimed water, and this concept is called Tamarack 3.

Proposed MOUs between the FWS, the State of Colorado, and SPWRAP (and in the case of
the North Platte basin, the District)

The federal government is required to provide coverage for post 1997 federal depletions, and
each State has agreed work with the federal government to provide up to 350 acre - feet of annual
coverage. In Colorado, we h ave divide d the 350 acre - feet, ½ for the South Platte basin ( 175
acre - feet) and ½ for the North Platte basin (175 acre - feet) . In addition, we have recommended
llocation (87.5 acre - feet) in order to see how the MOUs operate in practice. Thus, f or
federal depletions in the South Platte basin, we are ready to sign an MOU between the FWS, the
State of Colorado, and SPWRAP. This MOU authorizes depletions coverage f or federal
agencies for up to 87.5 acre - feet annually, in exchange for a one - time payment of $2,500 to
SPWRAP . The parties are willing to consider providing cover age for up to an additional 87.5
acre - feet annually for federal depletions in the first incre ment if no problems arise with the first
87.5 acre - feet subset. T he MOU provides for annual reporting requirements by the federal
agencies
South Platte future depletions pla n since that plan is a basin - wide plan. Of course, any federal
agenc
the Program, and instead seek an independent ESA consultation with the Fish and Wildlife
Service.

F or federal depletions in the North Platte basin, we are still worki ng out some of the finer points
of the MOU, but we are close to agreement on the major concepts. The MOU will mirror the
MOU regarding the South Platte basin. The federal agencies will re ceive coverage for up to 87.5
acre - feet annually in exchange for payment of $2,500 to SPWRAP, and the District will recei ve
a proportional amount of credit towards their dues to SPWRAP . Again, the parties are willing to
consider providing additional cover age for another incremen t of 87.5 acre - feet for federal
depletions if the first 87.5 acre - foot pool does not create problems. Similarly, u nder this
proposed MOU, the federal agencies will have reporting requirements. This MOU also has
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