BOARD01817

• Board Meeting Date: 11/19/2003
• Description: CF Section - New Loans - Colorado River Water Conservation District - Elkhead Reservoir Enlargement
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Colorado River Water Conservation District.
November 19-21,2003

Agenda Item 8a

af to come from a dedicated augmentation pool established by enlarging Elkhead Reservoir with
the balance of 2,000 af to come from a 20-year lease from the River District's pool in the Elkhead
enlargement. Elkhead Reservoir currently has a capacity of 13,800 af and will be enlarged by
approximately 12,000 af, 7,000 af of which will be the water users pool and 5,000 af of which will be
the endangered fish pool. The River District proposes to use the additional 7,000 af to satisfy
existing and future human demands for storage water.

In 1999, the River District agreed to undertake the expansion of Elkhead Reservoir on its own
behalf and on the behalf of the Recovery Program. Financially, the River District will be responsible
for a pro rata share of costs associated with the human water supply created in the enlargement.
The Recovery Program will be responsible for the share of costs for the endangered fish pool. In
2001, the CWCB made a $500,000 non-reimbursable investment to the River District for
environmental permitting and preliminary engineering of the enlargement. The River District will act
as project manager and agent on behalf of the Recovery Program in the pursuit of the enlargement.

Feasibility Studies
Dan Birch, P.E., Project Development Manager for the River District has completed the Feasibility
Study. The study includes the Yampa Plan Environmental Assessment, Summary of actions by the
Recovery Program Implementation Committee, the River District's Financial Statements and 20-
year operating plan, and the Elkhead Enlargement Preliminary Design Report prepared by URS
Corporation of Denver.

The Colorado River Water Conservation District
The River District was created by state statute in 1937 for the conservation, use, safeguard, and
development of the water resources of the Colorado River and its tributaries to which the State
is entitled under the Colorado River Compact. The River District is comprised of all or part of 15
counties that are in the northern two-thirds of the Colorado River basin.

The River District has historically worked to protect west slope water interests regarding trans-
mountain diversions and to obtain water rights for the development of Federal projects such as
Ruedi Reservoir and the Aspinall Project. The River District has also been engaged with the
development of water resources, most prominently with Wolford Mountain Reservoir, which is
west slope mitigation for the Windy Gap Project.

Water Riqhts

The River District has filed a new conditional storage right for 13,000 acre-feet (Case Number 6-
02CW106) to secure water rights for the enlargement of Elkhead Reservoir, and has also
claimed a direct flow right for 200 c.f.s for hydropower generation. The application does not
seek to change any water rights previously decreed for storage in Elkhead Reservoir nor move
any existing conditional water rights in the Elkhead watershed. The 13,000 acre-foot water right
application provides a cushion for any irregularities in the design calculations of the proposed
12,000 acre-foot enlargement of the reservoir. The River District is claiming an appropriation
date of October 16, 2002 for the following uses:

"All beneficial uses including municipal, commercial, industrial, domestic, irrigation,
livestock, power generation and cooling, wastewater treatment, piscatorial and
recreational (including in-reservoir and in-river fish habitat and river flow maintenance and
enhancement uses, and uses in furtherance of the Upper Colorado River Basin Fishes
Recovery Program) with the right to reuse and successively use the water to extinction."

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