Water News: Southeastern Colorado Water District Volume 1 Issue 11

Home Browse Search

WATER NEWS News and Notes from the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 1 SEPTEMBER 30, 2000 DISTRICT PLANS TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE ENLARGEMENT OF PUEBLO RESERVOIR The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District Board of Directors made it official on August 21, 2000. They do intend to move forward with a plan to enlarge Fry - Ark Project facilities to help address the need for additional water storage. The District Board unanimously approved the recommendations of the Preferred Storage Options Plan (PSOP) that was prepared for their consideration by the Storage Study Committee, a committee of the District's Water and Storage Needs Assessment Enterprise. The PSOP proposes to enlarge Pueblo Reservoir by 54,000 acre -feet and Turquoise Reservoir by 19,000 acre - feet in order to help meet the demand for 120,000 acre -feet of additional storage that is needed by the year 2040. Prior to these enlargement projects coming on line, the PSOP proposes that existing storage space could be better managed by allowing municipal water providers the option to store their own water in unused Fry -Ark Project space. These "re- operations" storage contracts could provide as much as 49,000 acre -feet of storage capacity for non - Project water and would be subordinate to existing Project proposals. The District Board considered this "re- operations" concept to be an important first step, before the Project reservoirs are to be enlarged. The District will need federal -level approval to enlarge Pueblo and Turquoise Reservoirs, and that will start with securing the support of Congress and the Administration for a feasibility study. The District will make that request during the next legislative session of Congress. In the meantime, the District has formed an Implementation Committee to work through a series of outstanding issues regarding the operation of re- operations storage and enlarged storage space. On September 21, 2000 the District Board took another step in the PSOP implementation process by adopting a resolution that declares the Board's intent to file for water rights on the enlargement of Pueblo Reservoir and Turquoise Reservoir before the end of this year. Of course, these water rights to store more native water will be conditional until the District receives federal approval. Ralph Adkins, District Board President said, "We will not need this additional storage space until the year 2015, but now is the time to start the long process of developing additional storage." And, it will be a long process. Following approval for a feasibility study, the District will go back to Congress and ask for the authority to actually enlarge the reservoirs. There will also be environmental studies and many opportunities for public input before the final decisions are made. It will take a lot of public support to see the vision of the PSOP come to reality. Stay tuned for our next progress report. Written by: Steve Arveschoug, General Manager, SECWCD TABLE OF CONTENTS DISTRICT PLANS TO MOVE FORWARD WITH ENLARGEMENT OF PUEBLO RESERVOIR 2001 BUDGET IN THE WORKS AN EXCITING SUMMER AT THE SECWCD XERISCAPE DEMONSTRATION GARDEN FRY -ARK PROJECT WATER ALLOCATION -2000 FRY -ARK PROJECT TOUR HAVE PRECIPITATION AND STREAMFLOW IN FOUNTAIN CREEK WATERSHED CHANGED OVER TIME? BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHT ROBERT T. SCHRADER 2 3 4 5