BOARD01318

• Board Meeting Date: 9/13/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Request for Administration of Willow Creek Instream Flow - On August 10,2005, CWCB staff
members observed that Willow Creek below Steamboat Lake was dry, with no water being released from .
the Lake. The CWCB has an instream flow water right for 5 cfs on Willow Creek from the outlet of
Steamboat Lake to the confluence with Beaver Creek, decreed in Case No. 77WI270. On August IS,
2005, after notifying State Parks staff, CWCB staff submitted a formal written call for the Willow Creek
ISF to the Division Engineer for Water Division 6. As part of administering the call, the Division
Engineer's staff worked with State Parks to determine the inflow into Steamboat Lake so that Parks staff
could release that amount of water from the Lake. Parks has been releasing 1.8 cfs to Willow Creek and
will be required to adjust that amount to match inflow into the Lake. Parks may also be required to
release additional water from Steamboat Lake if requested to do so under a lease agreement with the
Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service and the CWCB that provides for releases of water from
Steamboat Lake for instream flow uses to preserve the natural environment to a reasonable degree and to
assist in the recovery of endangered fish in the Yampa River.

Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Study: The Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Group met in July and
once again in August 2005 to discuss the overall study process and key issues related to the on-going
study efforts. To recap, the fundamental scope of the study is to look at the feasibility of converting flood
control storage space in Chatfield Reservoir, owned by the U.S. Corps of Engineers (Corps), into water
supply storage space. The target amount of space for the reallocation analysis has been 20,600 acre-feet,
but the Corps is due to come out with its findings and recommendations related to the Antecedent Flood
Study that will essentially nail down the exact storage volume that can be considered.

In the meantime, the assumed 20,600 acre-feet of proposed storage space has been divided up between 16
different water users in the Denver Metropolitan area. The water users have been broadly categorized as
"upstream" and "downstream" users based on their geographic location to the reservoir with each
receiving half (10,300 AF) of the target storage space. The Upstream Group consists of water users in the .
southwest and southeast Denver Metro area including: Parker W &S, South Metro Water Supply
Authority, Centennial W &S, Castle Rock, Roxborough Metro District, Castle Pines Metro District, Castle
Pines North Metro District, Hock Hocking Coalition, Perry Park Country Club, and Center of Colorado
WCD. The Downstream Group was assisted by Denver Water and the City and County of Denver that.
will likely release water into the South Platte River for downstream collection and includes: Aurora,
Brighton, Central WCD, Western Mutual Ditch Company, State Parks, and Denver Botanic Gardens.

Recently, the CWCB has received essentially all of the "Letters of Commitment" from the water users
related to the feasibility cost share agreement that prorates study costs based on the percentage of the
proposed storage pool that each water user has been allocated. Along with the letters of commitment, the
CWCB has received all of the expected funding from the water users in the amount of $491,000, which
now allows the CWCB to execute another change order with the Corps to transfer study dollars and
continue work. Furthermore, The CWCB has obligated all of its funding for the study, and the remainder
of the study work is expected to be born by the Corps and the water users.

Work tasks that are in progress and/or will be undertaken in the near future by the CWCB, Parks, Tetra
Tech and the Corps are: finishing rare plant surveys at the reservoir, finalizing the water users operational
plan, recreation mitigation study Phase II, completion of the Antecedent Flood Study, water quality
meetings, drafting section of the EIS report, investigation of an "environmental restoration" add-on to the
project (discussed above). This project has developed many alliances and partners working well together
to make sure that we meet the scheduled completion date of December 2007. This project also holds
promise to develop new storage space in the urban setting of the South Platte Basin perceived as helpful
in meeting current and future water demands.

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