Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District Minutes February 16 2006

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SECWCD February 16, 2006 14 RECORD OF PROCEEDING seven Basin States and forwarded to the Secretary of the Interior was provided to the Board members. Also attached were copies of the documents submitted by the States to the Secretary. Lee Miller reported Mr. Broderick and he had participated in a meeting with participants in the Colorado Water Congress Colorado River Project. The purpose of the meeting was to review "sufficient progress" concerns of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) related to Colorado River activities of water users. These concerns involve both sufficient progress of the Recovery Program and implementation of the Colorado River (15 -mile reach) programmatic biological opinion (PBO) that were expressed in the Service's sufficient progress report of September 2005. Of particular concern to the District are issues raised by USFWS regarding the permanent source of water to replace 10,825 AF of water that was to be released from Ruedi to benefit endangered fish under previous biological opinions, and spring peak flow augmentation pursuant to the Coordinated Facilities Operations Study. The objective of the meeting was to review those concerns with water users involved in the Colorado River activities, and to develop appropriate responses to USFWS in order to assure that these issues are being resolved, and that there are no legitimate questions about ESA compliance under the Recovery Program on the Colorado River PBO. These issues need to be resolved before the next sufficient progress assessment is drafted by USFWS in mid -2006. A follow -up meeting has been scheduled for March 3, which Lee Miller will attend. Legal counsel is also reviewing with District staff some documents prepared by Tom Pitts and others to address the USFWS concerns. Mr. Broderick has invited Mr. Pitts to give the Board a presentation regarding Colorado River Project issues. Lee Miller reported Denver Water and the Northern District moved to re -refer their joint application on the proposed Sulphur Gulch Reservoir (northeast of Grand Junction) to the Division 5 Water Judge in late 2005. Jim Broderick has been discussing this application with the Northern District's manager, Eric Wilkinson. A meeting among the applicants and the "friendly" opposers occurred on February 15 in Denver, which Lee Miller and Mr. Broderick attended. Lee Miller reported the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) adopted temperature criteria and implementation regulations with a delayed effective date of December 31, 2007. Further, the WQCC directed the Water Quality Control Division (Division) to continue work on the temperature criteria and return in 2007 with a revised proposal that addresses the issues that were raised during the hearing process. Legal counsel continues to receive and review draft Technical Advisory Committee "collective" reports. A meeting is being held February 16, the same day as the Board meeting, to provide stakeholder input on these "collectives "; Scott Clark is attending. The Board was provided a copy of the agenda for the Temperature Stakeholder Group meeting. WATER MEETINGS: SECWCD Sponsored Water Users Meeting -- March 9, 2006 -- CSU- Pueblo Produced Waters Workshop — April 4 -5, 2006 — Fort Collins Arkansas River Water Forum -- April 21 -22, 2006 — Salida