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Colorado Water Conservation Board Department of Natural Resources 721 State Centennial Building 1313 Shennan Slreet Denver, Colorado 80203 Phone (303) 866-3441 FAX (303) 866-4474 STATE OF COLORADO o Roy Romer Governor December 5, 1994 lames S. Lochhead Executive Director, DNR Daries C. Lile, P.E. Director, CWCB Mr. Errol Jensen U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Upper Colorado Region Durango Projects Office 835 E Second Avenue P.O. Box 640 Durango, CO 81302-0640 Dear Errol: . Thank you very much for sending us acopy of the "Florida Mesa Surface Water Budget" report dated October 21, 1994. Generally, the report provides a significant amount of valuable information and provides considerable insight into the water situation on Florida Mesa. We generally concur in the conclusions you reached in the report, . However, we do have one exception with respect to conclusion number 2. While we agree that it is possible to improve irrigation efficiency, we question in particular whether or not such improvement in this case would be in the best interests of downstream water users and the Indian Water Right Settlement Agreement. As you correctly note on page 17 of the report a certain amount of the return flow, regardless of source, goes downstream to help insure that all water users receive an adequate water supply. This return flow also provides some environmental benefits and the deep percolation most likely provides some benefits to aquifer recharge in this case too. These benefits need to be measured against the benefits of reduced diversions before any water conservation measures are suggested as a result of this study, Furthermore, these downstream benefits should receive stronger emphasis in the report, In addition, we offer the following specific comments regarding the report for your consideration. 1, The report would read easier with separate "Introduction" and "Purpose" sections rather than lumping everything into the "Location and Setting" section, 2. A topographic map of the study area showing key project features, ditches, gages and weather stations would be helpful. 3. A brief description of the "Florida Project" would also be useful. 4. Highlighting data which was filled in by correlation would give the reader a feel for whether or not it was very little or a lot.