BOARD02094

• Board Meeting Date: 1/23/2002
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

A discussion between Larry Lang and Geoffrey Bonnin, Ghief of the National Weather Service's Hydrologic
Branch in Silverspring, Maryland last December has led to NWS participation in the technical review, This
will help provide valuable momentum and credibility to ~his project. Continued cooperation of federal, state .
and local governments and good scientific study should help the state and federal interests with confidence in
the final report recommendations. .

Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Study: Two recent developments consist ofprojects that are a subset of
the tasks for the reservoir reallocation study -- a "Storage Use Patterns Investigation" and a "Recreation
Impacts Study," These projects will help determine which water users have a viable interest in the reservoir
storage space and put a dollar cost on the impacts to recr~ational facilities,

Brown and Caldwell are conducting the storage study fot approximately $40,000. Water users' information
(storage use patterns, water rights, and other information) will be solicited and verified by the contractor to
develop input parameters into the reservoir routing model. Denver Water has been very cooperative in this
project and will supply modeling data, The project completion date is June 2002.

In conjunction with this study is a Recreation Impacts Study. Weare coordinating with State Parks to
develop a scope of work for this project. The subcontractor, Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation, has
aerial photography, a GIS database and maps for the reservoir, State Parks also has GIS information, The
objective of this study is evaluate the costs associated with impacting the recreational amenities at Chatfield
Reservoir to give the Corps, CWCB, and water users an rdea ofthe cost of mitigating these impacts, It is
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planned that this project will be finished in June and staff will make a presentation to the Board in July.

Town of Otis Floodplain Stndy: The CWCB staff has been working on floodplain issues in the Town of
Otis (in the Republican River basin, approximately 35 miles east of Brush) for almost 20 years. On the north
side of Otis a flood control and storm drainage project was completed nearly 15 years ago. Because of the
technical and financial difficulties associated with improving or replacing undersized culverts under the BN ...
Railroad, the choice was made to design and construct a $torm drainage project upstream of the railroad .,
crossing, on the south side of Otis, with a capacity that wl1s roughly the same as the current capacity of the
railroad crossing, approximately a 10-year frequency. Even with that project completed, a 100-year flood
would result in widespread flooding on the south side of Otis, with numerous buildings affected,

The Town of Otis asked us for technical assistance to address new development in that portion ofthe
community (additions to existing buildings, placement o(new mobile homes, construction offences and
other improvements). We responded by providing funding for the preparation of a floodplain study and a
reconnaissance level mitigation alternatives analysis. CWCB staff examined the original flood hydrology and
completed a report entitled, Technical Review and Revis d H drolo Re ort Southwest Draina e in Otis
Colorado, The revisions resulting from that report, appr ximately 50% reduction in flood flows, are being
incorporated into the floodplain study for Otis, currently tmderway. McLaughlin Water Engineers, the
town's engineering consultant, and CWCB staff will jointly prepare a floodplain information report showing
the cunent floodplain boundaries in the southern portion pf Otis. The report will also provide preliminary
information on potential mitigation alternatives to address the floodplain problems in that part ofthe town.
The report will be completed later in the spring of 2002. ,

Golden Case: The transcript from the water court trial i~ the Golden case has been certified to the Colorado
Supreme Court, The State's brief is due on Feb. 7, I

OgalIa Aquifer Symposium: The topic for this year's s~posium is Economics of the Ogalla Aquifer, The
symposium is being held on Feb. 21 in Sterling.

Rio Grande Basin Issues

Rio Grande Headwaters Restoration Project: Since A~gust 2001, members of the project's Technical
Advisory Committee (TAC) have been working to identify potential implementation projects and
implementation strategies for some or all of the recommendations contained in the final report, On Jan, 15
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