Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitats

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III. ELEMENTS OF THE WATER CONSERVATION /SUPPLY COMPONENT • The Governance Committee will direct the Water Management Committee to develop a Scope of Work within a specified time period. The Scope of Work will guide the work of a hydrologic engineering consulting firm, which will conduct, in cooperation with the states and the Water Management Committee, a basin -wide reconnaissance study in the Platte River Basin to assess the potential for and make recommendations regarding the inclusion of water conservation and supply projects within the Program. Concurrent with development of the Scope of Work, each state and DOI will be invited to compile and assess any available information which may be helpful to the consultant in targeting its assessment to promising water conservation/supply opportunities in the basin. This information, to the degree it is made available to the Water Management Committee in a timely fashion, could also be used in focusing the Scope of Work on specific, unanswered questions regarding promising water conservation/supply opportunities in the basin. Once the Scope of Work is approved by the Governance Committee, the Water Management Committee will be directed to engage the services of a competent hydrologic engineering consulting firm through a competitive bid process. The Reconnaissance Study, which will be completed in 12 to 18 months after • execution of the Cooperative Agreement, will assess the opportunities for and the feasibility of incorporation of water conservation/supply alternatives within each of three regions in the Platte River Basin: the South Platte River Basin Upstream from the Western Canal Diversion; the North Platte River Basin above Lake McConaughy; and the region below the Western Canal Diversion on the South Platte River and from Lake McConaughy to Grand Island in the North Platte and Platte River Basins. These assessments shall include cost- benefit analyses, analyses of impacts on groundwater and return flow, analyses of the gross amount of water conserved or supplied, and analyses of net water benefits provided at the associated habitats. Each assessment shall include a process that provides an opportunity for involvement by each state, the consultant, the public, and water conservation task forces as appropriate. Finally, the assessments of water conservationtsupply alternatives shall consider the physical, legal, and institutional feasibility of the alternatives. The following alternative types of water conservation/supply projects shall be assessed: • potential modifications to surface water storage and delivery systems, taking into account seepage and any impacts to groundwater levels and return flows in the Platte River Basin; , •