Draft PRRIP GC Minutes June 2014

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PRRIP—ED OFFICE DRAFT 06/13/2014 137 Kearney Canal 138 Farnsworth introduced the Kearney Canal sedimentation analysis report. Werbylo provided a 139 presentation on the report. Kraus asked about the concentration of sediment between years. Werbylo said 140 the concentration relationship was not reported. 141 142 J2 Reservoir Update 143 Kraus and Drain provided an update on the status of the J2 project. Kraus said all initial contributions 144 were done on time and according to schedule. Drain said financial reporting is required on an annual 145 basis but future quarterly reports could include some of that detail. Ament asked about the water rights 146 petition filing. Drain said they believe they are adding more regulation to existing facilities and not 147 changing the amount or date of diversion. The Nebraska DNR has to be petitioned for approval. The 148 Central Platte NRD does have instream flows in the 3-mile section of river that will be bypassed so there 149 has been consultation with the Central Platte NRD. Ament asked if they were amenable. Drain said yes, 150 there was a question about reporting and measurement of the amount of flow that is bypassed with annual 151 reporting. Czaplewski said that is just to track it over time. LaBonde asked if there was any discussion of 152 when a decision would be made on the petition. Drain said no. Schneider said he does not know either 153 but it is being processed. Kenny said there is a lot of work going on but most of that is through 154 consultants. Of the $20 million set aside, most of that remains intact until land acquisition gets into full 155 swing. Kraus said he is going to track down what is in the Program account and what has been expended 156 through June 1. Kraus said there is not a need to send another invoice right now. Schneider said 157 technically the Program would not have to make another payment for three years. The Nebraska DNR is 158 budgeting for this similar to the Program but wonders if an amendment to the agreement is required to 159 start making payments more quickly. Kenny asked if getting an invoice this year would be a benefit. 160 Schneider said it is not critical but could be helpful. Campbell said having a yearly statement will help 161 the cause and spending in chunks would be beneficial. Schneider said Nebraska can stage its money 162 through the NCF if necessary. Kenny said he will discuss this further with the Department of the Interior 163 and CNPPID and will have a recommendation at the September 2014 GC meeting. 164 165 Campbell asked about the footprint of the darn and whether impounding more water will result in more 166 water in the account. Drain said he was not sure on exact yield levels but that the initial design was about 167 12,000 acre-feet and the adjusted design is about 15,000 acre-feet. There may be more opportunity for 168 storage but the final footprint and modifications to the design are not yet final. LaBonde said we will not 169 know until there is a final design report. From his perspective, he would be interested in optimizing 170 storage if it is available so he requested keeping the GC apprised of these potential design changes. 171 Sellers noted that the J2 project does have a few sentences on an annual report in Section 6 and she is 172 assuming that is part of the annual report that Campbell referenced. Drain said yes. 173 174 Independent Scientific Advisory Committee(ISAC) 175 Marmorek provided a presentation on the ISAC report that resulted from the April 2014 ISAC meeting in 176 Omaha. Kraus asked what kind of nesting islands the ISAC was recommending be constructed in the 177 channel. Marmorek said islands that have been created but some that would persist even at the highest 178 flows. Czaplewski expressed concern that approach had been tried before but had not yielded positive 179 long-term results. Marmorek said the effort to build islands on the Platte should be linked to analyses of 180 other river systems and what is different between the Platte and those systems. Czaplewski said there has 181 been a variety of islands built on the Platte and nesting islands on other rivers like the Niobrara are much 182 different than what we see on the Platte. Kraus asked if the discharge slide for the Niobrara would look 183 like the one Marmorek showed for the Platte. Farnsworth said on average Platte peaks are in June, on PRRIP June 10.11,2014 GC Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 11