BOARD00936

• Board Meeting Date: 1/25/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

make some major changes," said David Pimentel, a professor at Cornell University and primary author of
the study.

The study said farmers should use water-conserving irrigation methods combined with water and soil
conservation practices to minimize run-off. The study also suggests governments eliminate water
subsidies to farmers to encourage more efficient water use, work to reduce water pollution and protect
forests and wetlands.

By 2050 "water will to be the most critical resource issue we face in the entire world," said Bob Stallman,
president of the American Farm Bureau Federation and a Texas-based rice farmer. "Frankly, I think wars
will be fought over water. There are already border disputes in some parts of the world between countries
over water."

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Update on Stream Gaging & Monitoring: We are continuing to coordinate our stream gaging and
monitoring activities with the Division of Water Resources (DWR) and the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS).

In November 2004, staff attended the annual hydrographers meeting in Glenwood Springs and met with
representatives from the USGS and DWR to discuss the recent USGS prioritization of gages and the
overriding concern related to the cost of operation and maintenance of gages in general. As costs increase,
there is a potential for the loss of gages in Colorado that we have come to rely upon. Related to this is the
need for the installation of new stream gages to address specific issues such as the monitoring and
protection of ISF rights.

Although funding resources are required to address the initial capital cost and long term operation and
maintenance (O&M) of a gage, there is also a need for additional hydrographers to maintain the gages and
develop a published record of the flows. We are committed to continue to work to address the primary
issue ofO&M, while continuing to investigating practical ways to temporarily address the issue. One
method involves improving stream gaging efficiencies and accuracy by applying new technologies such
as Acoustic Doppler measurement equipment.

Other items discussed at the meeting included proposed improvements to the Flow Alert system,
conversion of both USGS & DWR satellite gages for high data rate capability, flood hardening, gage
refurbishment, and winter flow measurement utilizing tracer methods.

DARCA Convention: The 3rd Annual Convention of the Ditch and Reservoir Company Alliance
(DARCA) will be held Feb. 10-11 at Otero Junior College in La Junta. For more information visit
htto://www.darca.org and follow the convention links.

Change of Use of Donated Water Rights: On our behalf, the Attorney General's Office has filed an
application to change the use of a leased water right to instream flow use.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) donated the water right (the Bowman Ditch Right) under a
99-year lease agreement to the CWCB. (The lease agreement is automatically renewable for subsequent
99-year periods.) The BLM acquired this right through a land exchange.

The Bowman Ditch historically diverted water from Willow Creek, a tributary of Cathedral Creek in the
White River Basin.

This right, once changed, will be used to maintain the Board's Cathedral Creek instream flow water right.
The change application is published in the November resume in Water Divisions 5 (Case # 5-04CWI91). .
No statements of opposition have been filed for this case.

Water Quality Coordination Meeting: Our regular meeting took place on Jan. 6. The following agenda
was discussed:

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