BOARD02111

• Board Meeting Date: 5/16/2006
• Description: CWCB - Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Arkansas River Basin

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Preferred Storage Options Planning Meeting: The PSOP meeting was held on April 25, 2006 at 10:00
a.m. at the District office, 31717 United Avenue. Pueblo co.

Kansas v Colorado Litigation Account Update: Work has begun on the third year of the irrigation
study with CSU. Work on the first Iysimetcr continues, with final installation at Rocky Ford imminent. A
research planning session for lysimeter operation will be held in Rocky Ford on May 15. The current
plan is to get a cover crop established on the lysimeter and the disturbed areas adjacent to it, in
preparation for the conduct of crop experiments during the 2007 growing season. The Board will be
given an opportunity to visit the Rocky Ford experimental farm and see the lysimeter during the tour on
May 16. Consultants retained to serve as expert witnesses continue their work on issues surrounding
revisions to the ill Model.

Kansas v Colorado Litigation Update: The States conferred with the Special Master during a
conference call on May I. A schedule for resolution of outstanding issues was set, with final agreements
or positions on disputed items due by June 16. Remaining issues include: wording of final Judgment and
Decree, modeling anomaly for 1997 depletions, award and quantification oflitigation costs, and Colorado
well augmentation group changes of water rights decree provisions. This item may be discussed in more
detail during the Attorney General and State Engineer reports to the Board, as well as during Executive
Session.

Arkansas Basin Water QuaUty Standards: The WQCC has begun the process for updating water
quality standards in the Arkansas and Rio Grande basins with an Informational/Scoping Hearing held in
October 2005 and recent call for data availability. The next step is an Issues Formulation Hearing in .
November 2006. This process will ultimately lead to adoption of new standards in June 2007.
Commenters from the Arkansas basin expressed concern with proposals to adopt new criteria for
temperature and ammonia, as well as the continuing difficulty of addressing selenium which has
extremely high background levels in the basin. We hope to present additional information on this issue at
the Board meeting.

Reclamation Finalizes EA, FONSI on FryIngpan-Arkansas Project For Temporary Contracting:
On April 7, The Bureau of Reclamation released the final Environmental Assessment and corresponding
FindingofNo Significant Impact for temporary contracting in the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project. The EA
covers the years 2006-20 I O.

When Pueblo Reservoir does not fill with Fryingpan-Arkansas Project water, the remaining "excess
capacity" space is contracted to other entities for storage or exchange of non-project water. The Final EA
provides an analysis of the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects over five years for the temporary one-
year agreements issued for excess capacity contracting.

A Draft Environmental Assessment was released on February 2, 2006 for public review and comment.
Formal comments back to Reclamation were analyzed and utilized, in part, to redraft sections of the
Assessment. Visit Reclamation's website at www.usbr.lZov/l!JJ/nena/auarterlv.cfin to view a copy of the
Final EA.

Southern Delivery System Alternatives Report Released: On March 28, the alternatives report for the
proposed Southern Delivery System was made available from the Bureau of Reclamation. It consists of
two documents: a technical Alternatives Analysis and a Public Review Swnmary. Both are available by .
request and were posted to the website, www.sdseis.com <httJJ://www.sdseis.com>, on March 30. The

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