BOARD02463

• Board Meeting Date: 3/22/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Colorado Springs, Fountain, the Pueblo Board of Water Works and the SEWeD will also sign on to the
Holbrook lease as part of the restoration of yield program. Aurora and Colorado Springs each have 46
percent of the storage; Fountain,S percent; Pueblo, 2 percent; Southeastern, 1 percent.

The IGA says exchanges will stop when flows below Pueblo Dam are less than 100 cfs in winter or from
250 cfs to 500 cfs during kayak season. Exchanges are further curtailed in "drier years" when the river
gauge at Salida is 70 percent of average. As part ofthe IGA, the cities are entitled to restoration of yield
from foregone exchanges.

The cities will pay for $90,000 in improvements and measuring devices for the canal, $50,000 a year and
$14 to $31 per acre-foot stored, depending on how water is released. Holbrook Reservoir has storage of
about 6,000 acre-feet. An acre-foot is 325,800 gallons. Restoration of yield participants also pay to store
water in Lake Pueblo.

The ditch company does not use its storage during the irrigation season and it will be able to make trades -
without physically moving water - with the cities as part of the deal. The ditch is located north of the
Arkansas River and takes water out near Manzanola.

Aurora Pays Schools For Land Dry-Up: Aurora will pay Rocky Ford schools $1.5 million over five
years to make up for land dried up in the most recent round of Rocky Ford Ditch sales. In a recent
agreement, Aurora has agreed to pay $300,000 a year for the next five years to make up for property taxes
on farms being dried up by water sales on the Rocky Ford Ditch.

The payment represents 90 years of property taxes on 2,860 acres dried up in the second sale of the ditch,
which began in 1999. The first sale of the ditch in 1983 dried up 4, 100 acres. Aurora now owns 94
percent of the ditch.

Irrigated land is assessed at $650 an acre in Otero County, compared to $13 for rangeland, meaning a
huge loss of tax revenue. Otero County dropped its objection to the Rocky Ford Ditch II sale in 2001,
when Aurora agreed to make up the lost tax revenue.

Aurora adopted a similar payment in lieu of taxes plan in 1994 relating to the first Rocky Ford Ditch sale.

Colorado River Basin

Black Lakes MOA: Staff is currently negotiating a Memorandum of Agreement with the Eagle River
Water & Sanitation District (District) for enlargement and operation modification of Black Lakes located
near Vail Pass. The original MOA was entered into in 1986 between the District's predecessor, Vail
Valley Consolidated Water District, and the Department of Natural Resources. Through this MOA, the
DNR and the District resolved issues concerning the Board's instream flow claims on Gore Creek and the
District's plan for augmentation and use of Green Mountain Reservoir water by exchange.

In 1992, the District completed expansion of Black Lake No.1 pursuant to the 1986 MOA. The primary
purpose ofthis enlargement was to provide replacement water for municipal diversions when streamflows
in Gore Creek are at or below instream flow water right leaves. The term of this MOA has now expired
and the District is seeking approval of a new MOA for additional expansion of the reservoir plus certain
operation modifications. The new MOA will be presented to the Wildlife Commission and the Board at
their respective meetings in May 2005.

Glen Canyon Adaptive Management: The Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Workgroup (AMWG)
met on Mar. 2 -3 in Phoenix, Arizona. Reports were received on the CORE monitoring Plan, Long Term
Experimental Plan, Non-native fish suppression, strategic science plan, FY 2005 budget changes and draft
FY 2006 budget and the current experimental flow.

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