BOARD02098

• Board Meeting Date: 11/23/1998
• Description: WSP Section - Colorado River Basin Issues - San Juan Recovery Program - Status Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
721 Centennial Building
1313 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FA)(: 13031 866-4474

STATE OF COLORADO

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Roy Romer
Governor

MEMORANDUM

J.1mes S. Lochhead
Executive Director, DNR
Dariese. lile, P:E.
Director, eweB
Peter H. EVclns
Acting Director, eweB

TO:
FROM:

Colorado Water Cons~rvatio,n !39ard Members
Randy Seaholm ~~
Chief, Interstate Streams Investigations
November 15, 1998
Agenda Item 171, November 23-24,1998, Board Meeting--
San Juan Recovery Program - Status Report

DATE:
SUBJECT:

OCTOBER IS, 1998 COORDINATION COMMITTEE MEETING

At its October 15, 1998 Meeting, the Coordination Committee of the SJRRIP adopted the
flow recommendations of the Biology Committee contained in the "Flow
Recommendations for the San Juan River, Draft Report" dated September 16, 1998, even
though the report was incomplete, was in draft form, and large sections of chapters 7 and
8 required major revision. Furthermore, the flow recommendations were adopted without
any formal process for public input and without any meetings specifically targeted to
educate the public. The flow recommendations were adopted on an 8 to 3 vote, with the
Federal agencies, including the two Ute Tribes, voting yes and representatives of the
States of Colorado and New Mexico and the water users voting no.

The flow recommendations, as structured in the draft Biology Committee report, would
allow 60,000 - 120,000 AF, a very wide range, over and above the 57,100 AF for the
modified version of the Animas-La Plata Project ("ALP Lite"). Additional model runs
are needed to clarify the precise amount of allowed future development.

The recommendations require a peak flow of 10,000 cfs for a minimum period of 5 days
at an average frequency of2 years out of 10 years, even though 10,000 cfs would exceed
normal bankfull conditions, estimated to be around 8,000 cfs, and there is no
documentation of the effect of such high flows on endangered fish habitat or on property
below Navajo Reservoir. This 10,000 cfs requirement is the major limitation on
additional new development. Absent information of the effect of this requirement and the
opportunity for public comment, the States and water interests believe adoption of the
flow recommendations was premature. The SJRRIP documents, however, require only a
two-thirds majority for approval. There are two options for changing this situation: (1)
formally seeking to amend the Program documents to require consensus, rather than a
two-thirds majority, either by a vote of current participants or by the original signatories