Lower South Platte Water Symposium

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Lower South Platte Water Symposium Panel
Discussion of Water Issues Sterling,
Colorado March 11, 2009
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Overview
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A Challenging Era for Colorado Water

• Thirty years ago
• Colorados population was 2 million
• Three of Colorados four basins were
  underappropriated.
• It was an era of water abundance
• Today
• Colorados population is 5 million
• Three of our four basins are overappropriated.
• We are now in an era of water scarcity
• -- and tradeoffs.

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Interbasin Compact Process
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Enabling Legislation Addressing Colorado's Water
Challenges
SB03-110 authorized the Statewide Water Supply
Initiative (SWSI), which implemented a
collaborative approach to water resources issues
by establishing SWSI roundtables. The SWSI
focused on using a common technical basis for
identifying and quantifying water needs and
issues. HB05-1177 or The Colorado Water for the
21st Century Act provides a permanent forum for
broad-based water discussions. It creates two new
structures 1) the Interbasin Compact Committee
(IBCC), and 2) the Basin Roundtables. There are
nine Basin Roundtables based on Colorado's eight
major river basins and the Denver metro
area. SB06-179 created the Water Supply Reserve
Account. Throughout SWSI and Colorado Water for
the 21st Century Act processes, there has been a
clear recognition that financial assistance is
needed to address the water challenges in our
state. This legislation funds the Water Supply
Reserve Account (Account), which directs the
State Treasurer to annually transfer 10 million
from the Operational Account of the Severance Tax
Trust Fund to the Account. These monies are
available to the Basin Roundtables to fund water
activities. HB06-1385 created the Colorado Water
Conservation Board's Intrastate Water Management
and Development Section, which implements SWSI,
the Water Supply Reserve Account, develops
reconnaissance level water supply alternatives,
and tracks and supports water supply projects and
planning processes.
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Colorado's Nine Basin Roundtables
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Basin-Wide Water Needs Assessments
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Basin-Wide Water Needs Assessments

• Identify Consumptive Water Needs (MI and
  Agricultural)
• Identify Nonconsumptive Water Needs
  (Environmental and Recreational)
• Identify Available Water Supplies
• Identify Projects and Methods to Meet Consumptive
  and Nonconsumptive Water Needs

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Path Forward 2009

• Consumptive Needs Assessment done in Draft
• Nonconsumptive Priority Areas Identified
• Focus of 2009
• Projects and Methods to Meet Identified Needs
• (MI and Nonconsumptive)

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Status of Basin Roundtable Needs Assessments
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Colorado River Water Availability Study

• Phase One Analyze current demands under
  alternate hydrology
• Gauged Records
• Paliohydrology
• Climate Change
• Phase Two Analyze future demands under
  alternate hydrology (i.e. model What Ifs)

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Projects and Methods to Meet Identified Needs
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Example of Uncertainty Analysis South Platte
Basin for 2030 new demand

• South Metro
• Denver Metro
• Northern
• Upper Mountain
• Lower Platte

• South Metro Counties Rueter-Hess
• ECCV Northern
• Non-trib GW
• Denver Metro Counties
• Aurora Prairie Waters
• Thornton Poudre Pipeline
• Ag Transfers
• Gravel Lakes
• Northern Counties CBT acquisitions, ag transfers
  and local storage

409,000 AF new demand in 2030

• Moffat Firming
• Windy Gap Firming
• NISP
• Halligan-Seaman

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South Platte and Metro IPPs

• Roundtables and Providers review and update IPPs

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Development of Water Supply Strategies
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Elements of the Visioning Process
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Water Supply Strategies

• Water Conservation
• Agricultural Transfers
• Conventional and alternative transfers
• Development of New Supplies
• New Storage
• Transbasin
• These strategies address MI needs, but options
  to address agricultural and nonconsumptive needs
  will be added as strategies are evaluated

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Engineering Evaluation Elements(Examined by
March CWCB/IBCC Meeting)

• Description of strategy or project elements
  water source, conveyance and storage, water
  quality
• Capital costs permitting, mitigation, land
  acquisition, pumps, pipe, treatment,
• Annual Operation and Maintenance costs energy,
  equipment maintenance, and replacement
• Purpose
• Ability to begin to compare tradeoffs
• between strategies

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Assumptions for Water Supply Strategies

• Delivery of similar water quality
• Storage areas common to all strategies will be
  considered
• Termination points will be common to strategies
• Strategies will deliver water in the range of
  100KAF to 250KAF

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Strategy Evaluation(Examined after March
CWCB/IBCC meeting)

• Identification of
• Project benefits
• Implementation issues
• Potential attributes/additional options
• Acceptability
• Other evaluation elements
• Discuss potential attributes/additional options
  for ag transfer and new supply development
  options with Basin Roundtables
• Incorporate other conservation elements such as
  sharing of conserved water and the infrastructure
  and institutional arrangements required
• Qualitative description of how each strategy
  meets the Vision Statement and Vision Goals

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Narratives about Colorado's Water Supply Future

• Create a narrative describing what would lead to
  the 5 different scenarios

High Demand Low Supply
High Demand High Supply
Mid-Demand Mid-Supply
Low Demand Low Supply
Low Demand High Supply
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2050 Planning Horizon for Colorados Water Supply
Future
High Demand Low Supply
High Demand High Supply

• Demand Factors
• MI Growth
• Energy Demands

Low Demand Low Supply
Low Demand High Supply
Conservation
Agricultural Transfers
Colorado River

• Supply Factors
• Colorado River Hydrologic Variability
• Climate Change
• Compact Call

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Water Conservation

• 20 to 40 percent savings analyzed for each basin
• Management practices identified
• Overview of initial results
• Feedback on how much this strategy will reduce
  overall 2050 demands

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MI Water Usage Rates by Basin
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Ag Transfer Strategy

• Lower South Platte Transfer
• Lower Arkansas Transfer

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Lower South Platte or Arkansas Pumpback Example
of Benefits, Impacts and Attributes
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Development of New Water Supplies

• Green Mountain Concept lt100,000 acre-ft
• Yampa Concept gt100,000 acre-ft
• Flaming Gorge Concept gt100,000 acre-ft
• Big Straw Concept

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Colorado River Return System Example of
Benefits, Impacts, and Attributes
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Risk Management Strategies

• West Slope Water Bank
• Compact Delivery via Blue Mesa
• Conjunctive Use of Denver Basin Aquifer
• Timing and Phased Development
• Incremental Development
• System Wide Augmentation

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Next Steps and Path Forward
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Strategy Evaluation(Examined after March
CWCB/IBCC Meeting)

• Identification of
• Project benefits
• Implementation issues
• Potential attributes/additional options
• Acceptability
• Other evaluation elements
• Discuss potential attributes/additional options
  for ag transfer and new supply development
  options with Basin Roundtables
• Incorporate other conservation elements such as
  sharing of conserved water and the infrastructure
  and institutional arrangements required
• Qualitative description of how each strategy
  meets the Vision Statement and Vision Goals