BOARD01505

• Board Meeting Date: 11/15/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Internadonal Boundary and Water Commission (lBWC): U.S. Commissioner Auturo Duran has left
the mwc along with seven people appointed to high level management positions by Duran. Carlos
Marin is now acting head of the U.S. Section of the mwc.

A WRA 41" Conference to be Held In Seattle: The American Water Resources Association held its 41st
Annual AWRA Conference in Seattle, Washington, at the Red Lion Hotel on Nov. 7-10. The highlight of
the conference was a special event that included a discussion by Dr. Adam Bruckner of the University of
Washington about interplanetary water resources and last year's successful Mars Landing and Rover
project.

Center for the New West Holds Water Conference: On Jan. 12 and 13, The Center for the New West
will hold the Water and the West Meeting Supply Challenges Today and Beyond at the Bellagio Resort in
Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will kick-offa new project for the Center and we hope you can join us in
Las Vegas.

Western States Water CouncD Meedngs: The 149tb Western States Water Council was held in San
Antonio, Texas Oct. 19-21. The 150tb Council Meeting is scheduled for March 26-29 at the Holiday Inn
Capitol, 550 C Street SW, Washington DC. Additional Infonnation can be found at its website at
www.westllOv.ofl!

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New Book Provides Wide Coverage of Trlbal Water Rights Issue: "Negotiating Tribal Water Rights:
Fulfilling Promises in the Arid West" by Bonnie G. Colby, John E. Thorson and SarahBritton (Universityn
of Arizona Press) takes on lin exceedingly cOII1plicated and timely topic: Indian water rights. This hook
defines the issue and offers thoughtful strategies for working out viable solutions, while provides
extensive historical details, from European incursions to American Indian policy up to the modern era.
Special attention is paid to the legal background of the issue, with various court decisions and
congressional actions discussed. The authors caution that the job of settling tribal water rights is only half
done. They view events of the last 25 years as promising, demonstrating what cab he done and
establishing some momentum for the future. They note, however, that scarcity of funding, limited water
resources and national and international developments will complicate future settlements.

Wyoming Coal Bed Methane Water to be Re-Injected for Use: Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is spending
more than $50 million to re-inject coal-bed methane water back into the ground. Construction is set to
begin on a 48-mile water pipeline from Anadarko's County Line field in eastern Johnson COImty to
injection wells at the company's property near Midwest. The 24-inch diameter pipeline will flow as much
as 400,000 barrels of coal-bed methane water per day to the Salt Creek Field area where it will be injected
into the Madison aquifer.

To date, some 300 coal-hed methane water iqjection wells have been authorized in Wyoming, according
to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's Water Quality Division. Most of those wells are
in the Powder River Basin, but only about one-third are in use. The coal-bed methane gas industry pumps
about 1.5 million barrels of water from underlying coals in the basin every day, but only a small fraction
of that volume is re-injected back into the subsurface.

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Federal Funding Opportunity Study Update: Staff recently reviewed the final Federal Funding
Opportunities study from COM, which was developed to identity federal funding grants that could be
used to support CWCB's ongoing mission and related activities. The report was commissioned by staff
as a result of Section 11 of the SWSI report and the recommendation for each CWCB program area to
"Exploit federal funding opportunities". The study focused on cataloging and characterizing various
federal grant programs as they relate to similar CWCB programs. Although it is expected that the study
results will enable staff to apply for and receive federal dollars as a first step in implementing SWSI

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