BOARD01860

• Board Meeting Date: 11/25/2002
• Description: CF Section - New Loans - Town of Paonia - Ark Land Property Water Rights Purchase
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

. Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
. Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
W\VW.cwcb.state.co.us

MEMORANDUM

Bill Owens
Governor

FROM:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

Bruce Johnson, P.E. ~~'
Mike Serlet, P.E., Chief
Water Supply Planning an inance Section

Greg E. Walcher
Executive Director

TO:

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

DATE: November 15, 2002

.

SUBJECT: Agenda Item 201, November 25-26 Board Meeting
Water Supply Planning and Finance Section - New Loans
Town of Paonia - Ark land Property Water Rights Purchase

Introduction

The Town of Paonia, acting by and through its Water Fund (enterprise fund), is seeking a new loan
for $1,710,000 for the purchase water rights. The purchase of water rights will be in the form of a
buy-back of 317 unused out-of-town water taps, relieving the Town of a severe strain on its water
supply capability. It will also implement the first step in a longer-term raw Water Supply Master
Plan strategy and preserve a significant amount of developable land in agriculture. The total cost
of the project is $1,900,000.

,

Backaround

CWCS has been working with the Town off and on since 1994 on possible ways to increase water
storage. Currently, the Town is entirely reliant on a system of springs with very little storage. As
such, the Town has been forced to spill large quantities of water from its system when the supply
from springs exceeds demand. In July 1991, GEl Consultants, Inc. was hired, with the assistance
of a $10,000 ewcs grant, to further study ways to improve the raw water supply system. A Draft
April 2000 study evaluated a number of storage alternatives and concluded that a staged expansion
of the nearby Lone Cabin Reservoir would be the most cost effective. Subsequent discussions with
Lone Cabin Ditch and Reservoir Company and the USFS have been ongoing. Another key
conclusion of the study was that the Town had a significant amount of standby watenaps (407) that
had the potential to severely stress the Town's water supply in dry years if all of the taps were
developed. Standby taps are taps that have been sold but are not currently in use,

In January 2002, representatives from the Town, CWCS and the current engineering Consultants
ryJ.W. Wheeler & Assoc., Inc., in association with Westwater Engineering) met and agreed to
finalize the draft report in a Master Plan format, with the first step being to work toward re-acquiring

Flood Protection . Water Supply Planning and Finance. Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation and Drought Planning

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