BOARD02003

• Board Meeting Date: 3/20/2000
• Description: WSP Section - Arkansas River Basin Issues - Status of Accounting Issues at Pueblo, Trinidad, and John Martin Reservoirs
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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March 20-21,2000, Agenda Item 24.c.,
. Arkansas River Basin Issues, page 3

Operations Committee was held in Lamar, Colorado on February 23 and 24, 2000. The
primary purpose of this meeting was to provide the Committee members with additional
understanding of the issues. It was generally agreed that this meeting was very useful.
Both states now have a much clearer understanding of the issues and will be able to
further narrow those issues with direction from the Operations Committee and/or the
Administration. Ultimate resolution of these issues must also address what, if anything,
is to be done if it is determined that accounting done in previous years is in error, to correct
those errors and update ARCA's records. At the conclusion of the meeting, it was
suggested that each State independently develop proposals to address those issues which
now appear to be resolvable. These proposals may differ from the suggestions made in
the Operations Secretary's 1999 Report. No definite procedure was set for the exchange
or further consideration of these proposals. A summary of the accounting issues at JMR
follows:

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1. Additional Daily Accounting Information and Worksheets.
The Operations Secretary has agreed and begun to provide the Assistant Operations
Secretary with additional information as requested, in a convenient format on at least a
monthly basis. Real-time data posted on the Internet by the USGS and the Army Corps
of Engineers has also been helpful. This will facilitate monitoring and reconciling of
differences between reservoir accounting and daily operations. It is believed that this
concern has now been resolved through improved data transfer.

2. Transfer of Water into Accounts
The Assistant Operations Secretary has asserted that the 1980 Operating plan does not
provide for the interruption of releases from conservation storage (as was done on
November 1, 1997 and on July 25 and 31, 1998 per the Operation Secretary's 1998 report)
and therefore, should not occur. The Operations Secretary's position is that while the
relevant portions of the 1980 Operating Plan (Section II. D, including references to
Sections II A and B) are silent concerning such interruptions, the practice is consistent with
(if not in fact required by) Article V F of the Arkansas River Compact (conservation storage
would not have been exhausted during the non-irrigation season) and is suggested by
Section II B (3) of the 1980 Plan in relation to the interruption of summer time transfers.
The Operations Secretary has requested direction from the Administration and the
Operations Committee to resolve any ambiguity. This is an issue of immediate relevance
to Compact Year 2000 accounting.

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3. Supplemental Accounts
The Assistant Operations Secretary has criticized the use of certain accounts on the basis
that they are not specifically identified by the 1980 Operating Plan. Kansas' objections to
the use of these accounts appears to be more legalistic than technical in that they have not
demonstrated any adverse impact on their own account as a result of the procedures used
by the Operations Secretary in regard to these accounts. The accounts being questioned
are:
. "Other Winter Water Account" which is used to hold Pueblo WWSP water until the end

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