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CWCB Members <br />Status of Platte River Cooperative Agreement Implementation <br />September 21, 1998 <br />• Dick Stenzel, Division 1 Engineer, is acting as State of Colorado's representative to the Water <br />sub - committee. Jon Altenhofen, an employee of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy <br />District, is acting as the Colorado water users' representative. <br />By prior agreement, Boyle Engineering has prepared a draft "long- list" of possible water supply <br />/ conservation projects to provide the 60,000 - 80,000 acre -feet in needed shortage reductions. <br />Screening criteria will be applied to this long -list to produce a shorter list of project ideas for <br />further analysis. This long -list includes reference to "increasing transbasin diversions." As <br />described more completely in the attached letter, Colorado has vigorously objected to this idea, <br />as have numerous South Platte basin water users. <br />At the most recent Water sub - committee meeting on September 1 in Cheyenne, about 60 <br />interested members of the public attended under the umbrella of the Platte River Basin <br />Agricultural Alliance (PRBAA). The objectives and views of this organization are described <br />more fully in the attached letter to Governor Romer from Central Colorado Water Conservancy <br />District President Robert W. Walker. To my knowledge, the Central Colorado District is the <br />only Colorado water organization belonging to the PRBAA, though there appears to be some <br />interest in the group among Colorado users of North Platte River water. Many Wyoming and <br />Nebraska organizations also appear to be involved. The September 1 meeting attendees insisted <br />on representation on the Water sub - committee, and also requested that the sub - committee's <br />work be suspended until after November 17. Both requests were presented to the Governance <br />Committee at its regularly scheduled meeting on September 2. Following lengthy discussion, <br />during which Colorado water users strongly indicated they feel well represented in the process, <br />the Governance Committee agreed to appoint Mr. Kurt Bucholz of Saratoga, Wyoming to sit on <br />the sub - committee as a "water user," though not as the representative of "agricultural water <br />users" as had been suggested by several people affiliated with the PRBAA. The Governance <br />Committee did not agree to the request to suspend the work of the Water sub - committee. <br />The Governance Committee has tasked the Water sub - committee with verifying assumptions <br />contained within Colorado's Future Depletions Plan regarding the monthly distribution of <br />accretive and depletive affects of various sources of supply South Platte River basin water users <br />may draw upon in the future. Verification is necessary before the Governance Committee will <br />adopt the Future Depletions Plan as proposed. I am currently preparing written responses to <br />several questions that have come up during the course of review, which responses are available <br />at your request. <br />IV. Other water matters outside the purview of the Water sub - committee: <br />• Shortly, I will re- kindle discussions with Colorado users of North Platte water regarding <br />whether and how these water users want possible future depletions addressed through the <br />program. By agreement, Colorado's Tamarack Plan and "fair share" financial commitment <br />outlined in the Cooperative Agreement would provide the ESA compliance mechanism for all <br />existing depletions in North Park. <br />4 <br />