BOARD02636

• Board Meeting Date: 11/20/2000
• Description: CF Section - New Loans - Dolores Water Conservancy District - WETPACK
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Melinda Kassen, Esq.
Colorado Director, Western Water Project

Statement before the Colorado Water Conservation Board
November 20, 2000
Regarding Funding for Dolores Water Conservancy District

Trout Unlimited could support Colorado Water Conservation Board (Board) funding for
the Dolores Water Conservancy District (District) proposal to buy water and construct
infrastructure to deliver water in "Phase I" of"WETPACK", but only if there were
changes to the proposal or conditions on receipt of funds that ensure the grant will also
responsibly address the environmental needs of the Dolores River.

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Background. The United States Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) built the Dolores
Project (project), including McPhee Reservoir for several purposes, including agricultural
and municipal water supply and a fishery in the Dolores River below the reservoir.
Water allocated to a fish pool in the reservoir is released during the course of the year to
sustain the fishery; currently, the fish pool, combined with approximately 3900 acre feet
of downstream senior water rights stored and released annually from the reservoir, is
3300 acre feet short of what agency biologists have set as the minimum target releases for
the fishery. The Board has an instream flow right below the reservoir that is junior to the
Project's and MVIC's water rights. .

The Project also stores water for Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company (MVIC), as well
as providing MVIC supplemental irrigation water. The farmers served both by Project
and MVIC water irrigate lands that drain into the San Juan River, rather than the Dolores.
Because the land that MVIC irrigates contributes to the salinity problems of the Colorado
River Basin, the Bureau and Department of Agriculture (NRCS) paid for significant
efficiency improvements in both MVIC's delivery system and on-farm. As a result of the
efficiencies achieved through these improvements, as well as some changes in the use of
the lands that MVIC historically irrigated, MVIC has surplus water for sale on the
market. This water is not available for purchase for the benefit of the Dolores River
fishery, but is available for use by other agricultural irrigators.

The District's proposal seeks a 90% loan, in excess of the 75% ceiling established in the
Board's Guidelines for Construction Loans (found on the Board's website) at section
1.3.2(a)1 While the Feasibility Report describes WETPACK as an ambitious venture
that could eventually supply additional water for the fishery, the District is only

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I TU is aware that the Board has a 1997 policy which provides for 90% loans for purely agricultural, or
low-income municipal applications; however, because the Guidelines are on the web site and the policy is
not, and since neither is a regulation adopted using Admiuistration Procedures Act rulemaking processes,
TU is unclear whether guideline or policy controls.

Trout Unlimited: the Nation's Leading Coldwater Conservation OrganWUion
Colorado Office: 1966 13th Street, suite LL60, Boulder, CO 80302
Telephone: [phone] Fax: [phone] email: mkassen@.tu.oflr Web: www.tu.org