Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District 2003 Annual Report

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IMUK, - - - - Return Flows from the first use of Project water were limited by the very small amounts of Project water imported and sold in 2002 and 2003 due to the drought. There was 9,626 acre -feet of Return Flows sold in 2003 compared with 18,686 acre -feet sold in 2002. The Fountain Valley Authority exercised its Right of First Refusal on their municipal measured Return Flows and that left 3,607 acre -feet for agricultural entities. There was no municipal Return Flows available for the other municipal entities and the Enterprise had to transfer water from the Enterprise account to cover for this shortfall. Just 165 acre -feet of Enterprise -owned Project water was sold in 2003 because this water was held in reserve by the Board for emergencies. The rate for purchasing Fry -Ark Return Flows in 2003 was $6.00 per acre -foot with a $0.50 per acre -foot surcharge added for Safety of Dams (SOD) repayment. Enterprise -owned Project water was sold for $6.00 per acre -foot plus a $1.25 per acre -foot (SOD) surcharge for agricultural entities and a $2.00 per acre -foot (SOD) surcharge for municipal entities. For the first nine months of 2003, the Preferred Storage Options Plan (PSOP) was a back seat issue for the District. The federal legislation that is required to move the PSOP was being held up by the Colorado delegation due to certain entities within the state not agreeing to the legislation. However, the impasse was broken late in the year as the flow issue through Pueblo was making progress. Changes were also incorporated into the legislation to comply with a request from the Bureau of Reclamation. On the re- operations (Excess Capacity) side of the Project, progress was realized as Reclamation issued a response to the District stating that Reclamation had the authority to enter into long -term excess capacity contracts. This would allow the re- operations portion of the PSOP to now move forward. With this decision, it is expected that the NEPA process for Excess Capacity can begin in 2004. The concept of a Master Contract for all excess capacity needs was introduced to Reclamation and progress is being made on that subject. In their response to the District, Reclamation asked that the terminology be changed from "Re- operations" to "Excess Capacity." Therefore, all references to long -term storage activities and contracts will be referred to as "Excess Capacity" in the future. Staff prepared a one -page summary titled "Long Term Excess Capacity, and How It Works" per the request of the PSOP group. This succinct summary is available to any person or constituent wanting to understand Excess Capacity. The Water Quality Subcommittee of the PSOP group met with USGS and reviewed the study that USGS prepared for the PSOP following the water quality monitoring performed the previous two years. This report established a correlation between specific conductance and water quality as measured by salinity and its various components. Additionally, the report laid out tolerances, limits and procedures for future water quality monitoring, as well as guidelines for when exceedances will be considered pertinent and procedures for acting upon those exceedances. At year -end the subcommittee was reviewing the need to add more water quality monitoring stations to establish more baselines for tributaries to the Arkansas River through the Pueblo reach of the river. • 23 •