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Final Draft - Preferred Storage Options Plan Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District June 8, 2000 3.0 FORMULATION OF ALTERNATIVE PLANS 3.1 Water Management and Development Options There are many water management and development options available for meeting long-range needs of water users in the District. As documented in the GEl Study, additional reservoir storage capacity is essential to meeting future water demands of the Fountain Valley cities and other municipal entities in the District over the next 40 years. Storage is needed primarily to fully utilize existing water rights and develop reusable return flows. While water conservation in the municipal sector will playa key role in managing the rate of growth in future water demands, it will not be a "stand-alone" solution to meeting long-range water needs. Conjunctive management of surface and groundwater does not appear promising as an alternative to building new surface reservoir storage capacity. Local geologic conditions and already high water tables in the alluvial aquifers suggest limited potential for conjunctive operations. Improved sharing of water between agricultural and municipal users, through interruptible supply agreements and water banking, appears to be feasible. In fact, discussion of these concepts has been renewed in the basin. These water management concepts may, however, require additional storage rather than being an alternative to building additional storagc space for District users. ],2 Phase! Study Results During the Phase I water and storage needs assessment, the District's consultants, and the SSC identified and reviewed 31 storage options, including: new dams and reservoirs (both mainstream and off-channel); enlargements of existing reservoirs; and re-operation of existing Fry-Ark storage facilities. An initial screening was performed and 14 options were evaluated in greater detail based on cost, environmental and permitting challenges,-!!nticipated social impacts, and operational effectiveness. Based on this more detailed analysis, eight higher ranking options were identified. These included: re-operation of the Fry-Ark Project storage; Lake Meredith enlargement; Turquoise Lake enlargement; Pueblo Reservoir enlargement; an enlargement ofthe proposed Williams Creek Reservoir; gravel-lakes storage development; a new dam and reservoir on Clear Creek; and a new dam and reservoir on Tennessee Creek Based on expected permitting challenges and governance issues, the SSC decided to focus efforts during Phase II on the first six options. Developments of new storage on Clear Creek and Tennessee Creek were not considered during the Phase II planning effort. 3.3 Description of Storage Options The preferred plan for meeting the water storage needs within the District will most likely be a combination of Fry-Ark Project re-operation and construction of additional storage capacity. Re- operation involves storing non-Project water in currently available Project storage space. This is a non-structural solution for meeting a significant portion of the identified need for water J IPROJECTS\9906I\Reports\Pn:faTcdSOP Final wpd 3-1 m GEl Consultants, Inc.