BOARD01934

• Board Meeting Date: 11/25/2002
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

laws or rules promulgated since the Criteria were adopted in 1970, Public consultation meetings .
were held in September and a draft position docunj,ent is expected in November.

California Qua.ntification Settlement Agreement and Related Activities: Four Southern
California water agencies reached a billion-dollar agreement on Oct. 16 to transfer up to 300,000
acre-feet armually from the Imperial Valley to San Diego and other urban areas. The deal would also
ensure the health of the Salton Sea for at least the next IS-years.

While the agency boards still must approve the agreement, tIiis step was critical to getting a signed
QSA by Dec. 31 as required by the Interim Surplus Criteria,

Four conditions must be satisfied before the agreement becomes effective; (I) Environmental work
must be completed, (2) The San Diego County Water Authority must obtain the ability to wheel the
conserved water through the Colorado River Aqueduct, (3) the agreement must receive the necessary
approvals including approval from the State Water Resources Control Board and the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation, and (4) lID must have conditional subscriptions of interested landowners in place to
collectively conserve 130,000 AF of water, The agreement also caps lID's yearly allotment at 3.1
MAP.

Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program: The Environmental Assessment for a new
experimental flow test, similar to the 1996 Beach\Habitat Building Flow test, was completed in
September.

The primary purposes experimental flows are to improve retention of sediment resources in the
Colorado River Ecosystem and to benefit native fish, primarily the endangered humpback chub. The
secondary purpose of the experiment is to improv~ the Lees Ferry trout fishery through reductions in
Rainbow Trout densities, which are expected to result in improved growth rates and health ofthe .
remaining trout, and preserve the blue ribbon character ofthat fishery,

However, due to drought conditions, the test may not take place as plarmed,

Ruedi Reservoir Contract Negotiations: CWCB staff is representing Colorado in contract
negotiations with Reclamation and the USFWS to develop a contract that would allow the delivery of
10,825 acre-feet of water per year through 2012 to benefit endangered fish and critical habitat in the
Colorado mainstem.

On Sept. 17 Reclamation made a request to the U:\,per Colorado Recovery Implementation Program
(UCRIP) Management Committee for a program ~redit to offset this cost absorption issue, There
have been no further negotiating sessions since that request was made as Reclamation seeks to further
evaluate this and other options for addressing the cost absorption issue. This contract is one of the
major commitments made in the Programmatic Biological Opinion for the IS-mile reach. The Board
will have to approve the contract prior to the state's signoff.

HighUne Lake Appraisal and UCRIP Credit: We have received the appraisal from Reclamation
for the use of 320 acre-feet of storage space at Hi$hline Lake, The appraisal estimated the value at
$150,000, This is considerably less than the $50q,000 that we were seeking. We are in the process
of evaluating the appraisal and responding to Reclamation,

Headwaters Planning: Attached for your information is a status report prepared by the Northwest
Council of Govemments regarding the Upper Colorado River Project.

CRWCD Bond Fails: Referendum 4A, The Colorado River Water Conservation District's answer to .
drought-diminished West Slope water supplies, 'll'{as defeated on the November 5 general election.
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