BOARD00234

• Board Meeting Date: 7/23/2002
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Plan.... [W]e are concerned that [they] may not execute the draft Quantification Settlement Agreement
[QSA] by December 31, 2002."

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That agreement would settle respective allocations of Colorado River water between entities in
California. For decades, California has benefited from the use of water from the Colorado River
"surplus" to the demands ofthe other basin states, but as use in the other states has grown that surplus
has all but disappeared.

For more information about the hearing visit
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/l07cong/water/2002iunI4/agenda.htm.

Upper Colorado River Commission Meeting: The Upper Colorado River Commission met on June 4
in Silverthorne. In addition to receiving the normal reports from federal agencies and reviewing the
budget, the Commission spent considerable time discussing the Navajo-Gallup Project and issues
associated with the use and export of water from the Upper Colorado River Basin to the Lower Colorado
River Basin. The Commission also received a brief update on the Three-Forks Ranch-Little Snake
Litigation.

Colorado River Salinity Control Forum Meeting: The Colorado River Salinity Control Forum also
met in Silverthorne on June 4, 5, and 6. The Workgroup met on June 4, with the primary item of
business being revisions to Reclamation's RiverWare model of the Colorado River and in particular, the
salt balance portion of the model. The primary item of business at the Forum meeting was approval of
the 2002 Triennial Review for public distribution. This triennial review is notable given the
considerable updates and revisions to the NPDES permit policies. The Forum also received the
responses of the federal agencies to the recent Advisory Council Report and set the budget for the next
two years. Colorado's dues next year will be $30,602. On June 6 the Forum toured salinity features in .
the Glenwood Springs area.

Other Salinity Control Program Issues:

. 2002 Triennial Review. The Clean Water Act requires that a review of existing water quality
standards be conducted every 3 Years. The CRBSC Forum conducts the triennial review of
salinity standards for the Colorado River Basin on behalf of the 7 basin states. The standards
consist of numeric criteria at 3 lower basin measuring points, a plan of implementation for
salinity control projects, and salt discharge policies for the states to enforce as they administer
their NPDES permit program. Normally during the review modeling forecasts of future salinity
levels in the lower basin are made and the plan of implementation is modified to achieve the
necessary level of salinity control to avoid exceeding the numeric criteria. This review is being
conducted without the benefit of a functioning model and the proposed salinity reduction targets
are instead based on past [1999 and 1996] reviews and a short-term goal of maintaining current,
rather than the maximum allowed, salinity levels in the lower basin. This conservative, low risk
path was chosen to avoid major swings in the program when model runs can again be made with
Reclamation's improved CRSS beginning in 2003. The principal change proposed in the 2002
Review is a tightening of the salt discharge policies to prevent numerous small discharges [such
as those from multiple coalbed methane gas wells] from a single industrial owner from
qualifying for the de minimis exemption [lton/day 365 tons/year] under the existing policies.
This change was drafted by a Forum Committee chaired by David Holm of the CDPHE and is
suitable for enforcement in Colorado. The 2002 Review report will be available and distributed
to interested parties by late July. Public Meetings to discuss the review will be held at selected
locations in the upper and lower basin - Colorado will host a public meeting in Montrose on .

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