BOARD01667

• Board Meeting Date: 11/19/2003
• Description: CF Section - Referred Non-Reimbursable Investments - CWCB South Platte River Decision Support System
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Shennan Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us

Bill Owens
GovetTlor

MEMORANDUM

Greg E. Walcher
Executive Director

To:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

From:

Randy Seaholm
Ray Alvarado

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

Date:

November 7,2003

Re: November 20, 2003 CWCB Agenda Item 10b- Referred Non-Reimbursable Investments, Sonth
Platte Decision Snpport System (SPDSS)

Introdnction

At the September 22, 2003 Finance Committee meeting, the Non-Reimbursable request for SPDSS year 3 tasks
was for $2,000,000. The Finance Committee directed staff to resubmit the non-reimbursable grant request for
monies needed to advance the SPDSS groundwater modeling effort. After reviewing the status of the data
collection effort and meeting with DWR personnel, it was concluded that the non-reimbursable grant requests
continue to be done at one-year increments for a total of 4 years. At the inception of the SPDSS effort, the
Board identified funding requirements needed to complete the this effort.

This request is for the continued implementation of the CWCB South Platte Decision Support System (SPDSS).
The implementation of the SPDSS is anticipated to take a total of 6 to 7 years to complete as described in the
feasibility study and approved by the Board. The SPDSS is currently in its second year of implementation.
SPDSS is part of the CWCB long-range plan related to the CDSS effort, which is to have a decision support
system for each river basin in Colorado. For FY 04-05, an appropriation of $2,500,000 is being songht from
the Construction Fnnd to continne the CWCB SPDSS program. The next proceeding 3 years an
additional $2,000,000 per fiscal year will be reqnested. The SPDSS was initiated in 2001 with the approval
of $2,000,000 from the construction fund. The program was again funded in 2002, with the approval of
$2,000,000 from the construction fund. No funds were requested in 2003.

Discnssion

Development of the SPDSS is being built upon the experience, databases, tools and models already completed
for the CRDSS and RGDSS. The South Platte River basin, however, is a more complex river basin from
hydrologic, hydrogeologic and institutional perspectives than either the Colorado River or the Rio Grande