BOARD02201

• Board Meeting Date: 7/26/1999
• Description: WSP Section - Rio Grande Basin Issues - Rio Grande Decision Support System ‎(RGDSS)‎ - Status Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

>.

Agenda Item 12b
July 26-27, 1999 Board Meeting
Page 2 of2

.

3. Consumptive Use Model and Water Budget Contract (Leonard Rice Consulting Water
Engineers and Agro Engineering)

Utilizing satellite imagery, Agro Engineering is progressing with delineating ditch service
areas and assessing irrigated vs. non-irrigated lands. Leonard Rice has been working on
calibrating the Blaney-Criddle method to the San Luis Valley and estimating ditch system
efficiencies. They have also reviewed previous water budget investigations in the basin.

4. Relational Svstem Integration Contract (Riverside Technologv)

Memoranda and other deliverables from the various contractors have been made available
on the web site (cdss.state.co.us) for Colorado's Decision Support Systems (CDSS).

5. Spatial Svstem Integration Contract (HDR Engineering)

All geographic information system (GIS) coverages have been obtained, and maps of the
San Luis Valley highlighting these coverages have been produced and made available on
the CDSS web site.

6. Other Activities

Over the past year, the Division of Water Resources (DWR) has installed 22 new gaging
stations on both streams and irrigation diversions in support of RGDSS. Additionally,
approximately 20 observation wells will be drilled over the course of RGDSS.

.

An MOU between the State and the Rio Grande Water Conservation District (RGWCD)
will provide for the long -term operation of the new surface water gaging stations by the
State and the long-term operation of the new observation wells by RGWCD; this operation
will include maintaining and observing the gaging stations and wells, as well as publishing
data. This MOU is currently in the signature process.

CWCB and DWR staff would like to transfer ownership of these observation wells to
RGWCD; these wells will be drilled in public rights-of-way. RGWCD has expressed an
interest in this proposal. CWCB staff plan to provide a memo to the Board on this issue
for a future meeting.

An RGDSS Advisory Committee meeting was held in Monte Vista on June 30. There were
30 people in attendance. Each of the contractors made a presentation concerning their
work to date on the project.

In conclusion, RGDSS development is progressing well with approximately 30 percent of the
year I budget for the contractors expended as of May 31 and approximately that same amount .
of work accomplished.