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Colorado River District _/'' Protecting Western Colorado Water Since 1937 Ted Kowalski Colorado Water Conservation Board 1313 Sherman St. Room 721 Denver CO 80203 VIA E-MAIL RE: Requested Changes Upper Colorado Basin Fund MOA Project List and Expenditures for the North Fork WCD and Uncompahgre Valley WUA January 13, 2015 Dear Ted— As a follow up to recent discussions with you and Ted Dunn of Reclamation, and due to changing conditions and priorities, the River District, on behalf of the affected qualifying project areas, submits this formal request to modify and reallocate previously approved Colorado River Basin Fund monies, made available pursuant to the Memorandum of Agreement Concerning the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund, (Basin Fund MOA). These proposed changes, described below, will better address the needs of the project sponsors and will help meet multiple objectives of the State of Colorado and River District constituents. Many changes have occurred since the series of MOA projects were approved (2012-2015) for the North Fork Water Conservancy District (NFWCD) and Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association (UVWUA), therefore it is critical that the assignment of Basin Fund MOA financial resources be changed to reflect changing priorities and conditions. For example, alternate funds have been provided by the State of Colorado to offset prior a request (i.e., MOA funding needs for UVWUA Optimization Study were eliminated), and implementation priorities have changed, (e.g., significant changes in sedimentation rates at Paonia Reservoir have occurred and have thereby shifted priorities in the NFWCD). Expedited action and funding changes are now required. Specifically, we request the State of Colorado to urge the USBR to immediately reallocate sufficient MOA funds to address the following revised high priorities for two of approved project areas: NFWCD (North Fork Water Conservancy District) - Reallocate and immediately make available up to $5MM for additional, continued sediment monitoring, assessment and investigations of new structural and operational approaches to Paonia Reservoir and related sediment management, including identifying action alternatives and design. It should be recognized that on-going monitoring and related research is yet to be finalized and published into a guidance document by USBR TSC, as such, specific recommendations and refined cost estimates are not currently available. Upon completion, this report will better inform project managers and may slightly change the estimates and requests listed below: 201 Centennial Street/ PO Box 1120 • Glenwood Springs, CO 81602 (970) 945-8522 • (970) 945-8799 Fax www.ColoradoRiverDistrict.org