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2 <br />along the Front Range continue to be in good shape because of significant storage <br />reserve. <br /> <br />Water Division 1 <br /> <br />The federal government has authorized the Platte River Recovery Implementation <br />Program with legislation this year, and their funding situation is good. We expect <br />about $9 million this year, and $12 million is expected next year although they may <br />be operating under a continuing resolution which would keep funding at about $9 <br />million until the federal budget is passed. <br /> <br />The state funding situation is also good. We have about $16 million of the $24 we <br />need, of course the $24 million are in 2005 dollars so we may need more like $25 or <br />$26 million, but we expect to get there. As far as water goes, we are renegotiating <br />our MOU with SPWRAP and SPWRAP will agree to pay for providing the water <br />obligations of the state (infrastructure to retime up to 10,000 acre-feet of water from <br />times of surplus at the habitat to times of deficit at the habitat often referred to as <br />Tamarack 1 obligation, and Tamarack 2, which requires retiming of water from new <br />growth (post-1997 levels) from times of net accretions to times of net depletions <br />(typically from October through April retimed to accrete in May and June). <br /> <br />Republican River Basin <br /> <br />Colorado in cooperation with other entities such as the Republican River Water <br />Conservation District (RRWCD) is implementing a series of several discreet actions <br />that will collectively serve to meet our obligations under the Republican River <br />Compact. The actions are: (1) promulgation and adoption of rules that require <br />installation of measuring devices on ground water wells; (2) implementation of <br />irrigated land retirement programs; (3) construction and operation of a compact <br />compliance pipeline that will operate in conformance with an augmentation plan <br />approved by the RRCA; (4) proposed operations of Bonny Reservoir and other <br />surface water rights to achieve compact compliance; and (5) prepared draft compact <br />compliance rules. All of these actions are being done in collaboration and <br />cooperation of all affected stakeholders including Federal, State and local entities. <br />Our goal is to seek and achieve buy-in of the water users in the basin. <br /> <br />First, a hearing was held on July 2 in Wray for the proposed Well Measurement <br />Rules. These rules would affect approximately 4,000 high capacity irrigation, <br />industrial and municipal wells within the basin. Once promulgated, no well will be <br />allowed to operate after 2008 unless it has an acceptable means of measuring the <br />amount of water pumped. On July 14th, the Hearing Officer adopted the Well <br />Measurement Rules. The rules require the installation of totalizing flow meters or an <br />approved PCC for all wells pumping in excess of 50 gpm by March 1, 2009. We are <br />in the process of building staff to implement and enforce the rules for the next <br />irrigation season. <br /> <br />Second, the irrigated land retirement programs such as CREP and EQIP have <br />enrolled about 29,000 acres (including those lands covered by the Pioneer and Laird <br />ditches) in either the permanent or one, three and five year lease programs. There