Board Meeting 02/16/1984

• Board Meeting Date: 2/16/1984
• Description: Minutes, Agenda, Memorandums February 16, 1984
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

the legislation in the Senate will occur in early March.
• Hearings on the legislation in the appropriate House committee
were uncertain.
4. Grand Mesa Water Conservancy District
In the November 1983 meeting, Mr. McDonald reported on
the efforts of this district to reformulate its proposed project,
including the inclusion of hydroelectric power production. Despite
these efforts, the feasibility of the proposal was questionable.
As a consequence, the Water Resources and Power Development
Authority declined to fund additional feasibility studies. Fol-
lowing this decision, the District submitted an application to the
Board for funds to conduct a basic hydrology study of the proposed
project. Action on this application is deferred pending consensus
by proponents and opponents of the proposed study.
5. 404 permits In Mesa, Delta, and Montrose Counties
The Uncompahgre Water Users Association, in its efforts
to continue its rehab work on its irrigation system, alleged that
it is encountering problems in obtaining 404 permits from the
Corps of Engineers, particularly where repairs are being made on
structures in the Uncompahgre River.
In following up on these allegations with the District
Engineer, Corps of Engineers, Mr. McDonald learned that the Corps
is, in fact, denying permits in certain cases. . These denials, for
the most part, are based on conditions imposed by other water
resource agencies--the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , the
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Colorado Division of
Wildlife--which agencies are, by statute, required to review the
permit applications. These agencies claim that, in some cases,
issuance of the permit would be detrimental to fish habitat require-
ments. In other cases, denials are based on design standards for
404 permits imposed by the Corps of Engineers.
In concluding the discussion on this item, Mr. McDonald
stated that the Board staff, in coordination with the State
Engineer, is gathering field data as to the extent of, and reasons
for, the problems; and with this information, Mr. McDonald will
contact the District Engineer and attempt to resolve this issue
in the very near future.
6. South Platte River Basin Water Management Study
In discussing this item, Mr. McDonald reported that the
National Academy of Sciences, a research agency, completed a water
management study in the Potomac River Basin through a sophisticated
modeling procedure. This agency recently contacted the Bureau of
Reclamation (BR) for recommendations as to which river basins would
be suitable for a comparable study in the western states. The BR
• (Lower Missouri Region) suggested the South Platte River Basin,
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