Board Meeting 03/15/1984

• Board Meeting Date: 3/15/1984
• Description: Minutes, Agenda, Memorandums March 15, 1984
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

(4) Consideration of proceeding with the appraisal of lands
and water rights .
Each of the these items is discussed below.
Change in Purpose and Scope of Project
In order to obtain the remainder of the financing needed for
the project, the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District has made
application to the Bureau of Reclamation for funding under the
Small Reclamation Projects Act. The District is advised that the
project would be eligible for a grant in the amount of about $3
million if at least half of the capacity of the reservoir is
dedicated to recreation and fish and wildlife enhancement. This
would entail dedicating about 15, 000 acre-feet of the reservoir ' s
total capacity to a permanent pool for recreation and fish and
wildlife uses . Another 15 ,000 acre-feet of capacity would remain
available for water supply purposes and about 4, 000 acre-feet
would be dedicated to a sediment pool.
In contrast, the project approved by the Board and
recommended to the General Assembly contemplated that the
sediment pool of about 4, 000 acre-feet would serve as a permanerk
pool and that the balance of the reservoir ' s capacity ( i.e. ,
about 30 ,000) would be entirely devoted to water supply
purposes. As a consequence, I am concerned that the project as
• now contemplated is significantly different than the project
proposed by the Board to the General Assembly.
In particular, the purposes of the construction fund are
limited to the construction of new facilities which will develop
water for benefical consumptive use. Having half of a project ' s
yield devoted to a permanent recreation pool raises the question
of whether or not such a project is in compliance with the
criteria which govern expenditures from the construction fund.
So long as the Board does not finance more than half of the total
cost of the project, it seems to me that the statutory criteria
will have been complied with on the grounds that the Board is
contributing to that portion of the project which will serve
water supply purposes .
Accordingly, I recommend that the Board continue with its
participation in the project, subject to the specific statutory
conditions sited in the introduction to this memo. However, when
the Board enters into contracts with the Upper Yampa Water
Conservancy District, I recommend that the Board require of the
District that not less than 15,000 acre-feet of the reservoir ' s
capacity be devoted to water supply purposes and further require
of the District an operating plan for the reservoir that will
recognize water supply, storage and regulation as the primary and
overriding purpose for the reservoir .
•
MEMORANDUM -3- March 9, 1984