BOARD00926

• Board Meeting Date: 5/11/1998
• Description: WSP Section - Arkansas River Issues - Offset Account at John Martin Reservoir
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
721 Centennial Building
1 31 3 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

STATE OF COLORADO

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Roy Romer
Governor

MEMORANDUM

J.lmes S. lochhe.:ld
Executive Director, DNR

Daries C. Lile, P.E.
Direaor, eweB

TO:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

Steve Miller .~-..-Q..... ~
Interstate Streams and Hydrologic Investigations Section

FROM:

DATE:

May 4, 1998

SUBJECT:

Agenda Item 28b, May 11-12, 1998 Board Meeting-
Arkansas River Issues - Offset Account at John Martin Reservoir

Introduction

In March 1997 Kansas and Colorado acting as the Arkansas River Compact Administration
["ARCA"] adopted a resolution crating an "offset account' at John Martin Reservoir ["JMR"]. The
account was for purposes of storing and delivering to the Stateline water to replace depletions caused
by post-compact well pumping in Colorado. The attached sheet gives a brief summary of how the
'offset account' is intended to operate. A key provision for purposes of this memo is the requirement
that Colorado water users deliver 500 acre-feet into the "offset account" prior to April I of any year
they intend to use the account. This first 500 acre-feet of water is exclusively for the use of Kansas
and is meant to provide a reciprocal benefit to Kansas for their agreement to allow space at JMR to
be used this way, and is not a credit against well pumping in Colorado.

Discussion

Due to high flows last fall and the lack of storage space at Pueblo Reservoir, JMR was forced to spill
account water beginning in mid-December. This unusual situation forced about 5,000 acre-feet of
water placed into the offset account by LA WMA out of the reservoir. In addition, since JMR has
continued to spill throughout the winter there is no room at present for the "offset account" and
significant risk that if space develops before July that normal runoff would again spill the account.
In an attempt to make the "offset account" as beneficial to Kansas as possible, Colorado proposed
that the 1997 ARCA resolution be modified to allow the prerequisite 500 acre-feet of water to be
delivered after April 1 this year.