Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District 2003 Annual Report

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Alan Hamel President - Pueblo 2000 –2004 - 2003 was another very busy and challenging year for the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Certainly one of our major challenges was water supply, following the record - setting drought of 2002. Although we saw some relief, we still have a long way to go in rebuilding a reserve and being able to meet the full supplemental water needs of our agricultural and municipal constituents. In 2003, we had 37,500 acre -feet of Project water available for allocation and had requests for 152,754 acre -feet of Project water. Agricultural entities requested 109,000 acre -feet, and municipalities requested 44,000 acre -feet. This past year, the staff and board continued to closely review and fine -tune our allocation principles to assure we are reaping the greatest benefit of our water supply and making equitable allocations. Again in 2003, the District entered into a joint cloud seeding effort to hopefully add to that supply and assist in our road to recovery. During 2003, we were also very busy on many other fronts. Water conservation presentations, workshops, and tours were offered. Extensive work was done on our PSOP legislation (H.R. 3881), which is still on hold in Congress, waiting for us to settle our final issues with the Cities of Pueblo and Aurora. As mentioned earlier, we now have a settlement with Aurora and are working diligently to resolve the flow issues for the City of Pueblo. In October we reconvened to service the Preferred Storage Options Plan (PSOP) Committee, focusing our attention on exploring the opportunity in applying to the Bureau of Reclamation for a master excess capacity contract for long -term If and When storage for all District entities that have an interest and need. During 2003, we continued to work with and assist our new sister district, the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, which has now been in operation for a little more than a year. We also saw progress on the Arkansas Valley Conduit, with legislation being introduced in Congress. During 2003, the Southeastern Water Activity Enterprise agreed to manage and organize the efforts necessary to make this project a reality. The staff in particular, but also the board, has been very busy on routine business and other important projects and issues. I want to, first, take this opportunity to thank each staff member - Jim, Toni, Bob, Phil, Margie, and Jean - for their hard work, commitment, and teamwork. Many thanks, too, to our very able legal advisors - Steve, Lee, and Bernie. I also want to convey personal appreciation to my fellow board members, who spent many extra hours, working together to confront head -on our many challenges and opportunities. Serving on the board of SECWCD is no longer a simple commitment of a few hours one day per month, but a continuum of meetings, communication, and an endless volume of reading and research. Thanks for a job well done! In closing, the past year has been filled with challenging opportunities and collaborative efforts in the Arkansas Valley, as we developed and protected our most important and vital resource — WATER. Additional storage is vital and that is why we must continue to band together with the Upper and Lower Arkansas Valley Water Districts to make our long range Preferred Storage Options Plan become a reality. The added storage will enable us to maximize our existing water supplies and implement the new water softening pool and water banking. Increased storage will also allow us to better meet the next drought and provide growth opportunities for all the cities, towns, farms, ranches, and businesses in our great Valley and throughout the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. .2.