ALP 13

JOHN W. SUTHERS
Attorney General
CYNTHIA H. COFFMAN
Chief Deputy Attorney General
DANIEL D. DOMENICO
Solicitor General
STATE OF COLORADO
DEPARTMENT OF LAW
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
May 11, 2011
STATE SERVICES BUILDING
1525 Sherman Street - 7th Floor
Denver Colorado 80203
Phone [phone]
CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Colorado Water Conservation Board
FROM: Susan Schneider
First Assistant Attorney General
Ted Kowalski
Chief, Interstate and Federal Section
Tim Feehan
Chief, Finance Section
Vaughn McWilliams
Contracts Manager, Finance Section
RE: Animas -La Plata Negotiations
The Animas -La Plata Project (A -LP) is a water project, located in Durango, CO, that
fulfills the water rights settlement among the United States, the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern
Ute tribes (Tribes) and provides water to southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.
There are seven A -LP project beneficiaries, with a combined storage allocation of 108,800 acre -
feet (AF) of supply and 54,400 AF of depletions. The State of Colorado's (State) project
allocation is 10,460 AF of storage and 5,230 AF of depletions. The State has the option of
entering into a repayment contract with the US Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) to purchase all
or part of its project water allocation of 10,460 AF.
In the fall of 2009, the CWCB hired Brown and Caldwell (Consultant) to analyze the needs
and potential uses of A -LP project water within the Animas River basin in the event that the State
were to purchase all or a portion of its allocation. That A -LP Phase I Study was completed in
March of 2010 and identified an immediate M &I need of approximately 1,000 AF for the area. In
June of 2010, the CWCB and the Southwestern Water Conservation District (SWWCD) hired the
Consultant to complete A -LP Phase II Study. The Phase II Study examined exchange potentials,
compact issues and climate change. It also studied the potential impact of the project on future