BOARD00026

• Board Meeting Date: 11/22/1999
• Description: CF Section - Changes in Existing Loans - San Luis Valley Irrigation District - Loan Payment Deferral Request
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone, 13031 866-3441
FAX, (3031 866-4474

STATE OF COLOAADO

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MEMORANDUM

Bill Owens
Governor

Greg E. Walcher
Executive Director, DNR

Peter H. Evans
Director, ewes

TO: Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

FROM: Mike Serlet, P.E., Chief, Water Supply Planning and Finance Section fl/J
DATE: November 16,1999

SUBJECT: Agenda Item lla - November 22-23, 1999, Board Meeting
Water Supply Planning and Finance - Changes in Existing Loans
San Luis Valley Irrigation District - Loan Payment Deferral Request

Introduction

By letter to Peter Evans dated September 24, 1999 (see attachment), the Board of
Directors of the San Luis Valley Irrigation District have requested a deferment of two of
their CWCB Construction Fund loans. One contract loan payment is due in December
for the amount of $30,660.37 and the other is due in August for $30,014.20. The purpose
for this request is to help offset the District's financial difficulty due to $175,000 in
repairs to the Rio Grande Reservoir dam outlet works over the past two years.

Backl!round

The San Luis Valley Irrigation District owns and operates the Rio Grande
Reservoir located approximately 25 miles west of Creede in Hinsdale County (see
attached map). The Reservoir is the only Rio Grande mainstem reservoir in Colorado
and controls approximately 25% of the Rio Grande's flow above the Del Norte gage.
The reservoir is considered a pre-Compact reservoir under the Rio Grande Compact due
to its construction in the early 1900s. This status provides a tool that can be used at times
to benefit water users diverting from the Rio Grande and to aid the State of Colorado in
meeting the Rio Grande's separate Compact obligations. The Reservoir inflows typically
must be passed to satisfy downstream demand unless the Reservoir storage decrees are in
priority. Its safe and prudent operation is therefore critical for water rights and Compact
administration.