Final Minutes
Water Management Committee Conference Call
The Water Management Committee (WMC) conference call began at 1:00 p.m. After role call, John Lawson identified the main agenda items as the written description of Tamarack's operations and the completion of the Tamarack Phase I Daily Operating Criteria subtask of Milestone W6-EXT.
Mark Butler explained the subtask was needed to provide information to the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) Team on how Tamarack Phase I would be operated using real time daily data and how projections of excess flows would be done, because previous modeling efforts used monthly data to evaluate Tamarack operations and the amount and timing of excess flows were known. Butler went on to identify two questions regarding the written description of Tamarack's operations.
Butler questioned the 4th sentence in the 3rd paragraph on page 3, regarding the water year type and the associated target flows being set by the Environmental Account (EA) Manager in October of each year and asked what process would be used to set/establish the year type. The need to adjust the year type based on the water supply conditions throughout the year was identified. Jon Altenhofen will add a sentence to clarify that the year type can be adjusted in response to changing water supply conditions and demands.
Butler also asked for clarification on the last sentence in the 3rd paragraph on page 3, regarding adjustment of a Tamarack diversion for a day based on the routed and shrunk effect at Grand Island computed by the spreadsheet. Altenhofen clarified that the adjustment of Tamarack's diversion as described in the text is for the current day. The existing sentence will be clarified by adding text to specify the adjustment is for the current day.
Ann Bleed raised a concern regarding the intended use of the document. The use of the document was discussed. Lawson suggested adding the following sentence to clarify the intended use of the document. Altenhofen will incorporate similar language at the beginning of the document.
"This document was developed to describe the Tamarack Operating Plan at a level of detail sufficient for use in developing the EIS analysis."
With the above modifications to the document, Butler agreed that the document satisfies the informational needs of the subtask under Milestone W6-EXT and the subtask has been completed. Altenhofen will make the revisions and provide the revised document to Dale Strickland for distribution to the Water Management Committee (WMC) for review. Lawson asked that comments regarding the document be provided to Strickland via email with a copy to Lyle Myler's personal email at lmyler@juno.com. Comments are due by Friday, February 22, 2002. Lawson anticipates reporting to the Governance Committee at their March 4 meeting that the Tamarack Phase I Daily Operating Criteria subtask of Milestone W6-EXT has been completed.
It was noted that the full product for Milestone W6-EXT has not been developed and Milestone W6-EXT will be an agenda item for the WMC in the future. Frank Kwapnioski brought up several items for clarification regarding Tamarack operations. The concerns and discussion are summarized briefly below. These items will be addressed for the completion of Milestone W6-EXT.
Will Tamarack Phase I be operated in shoulder months to reduce potential impacts? The two operating criteria for Tamarack Phase I diversions are; (1) the South Platte River Compact requirements are satisfied and (2) the flows at Grand Island exceed the target flows. The operation of Phase I is not necessarily limited to the shoulder months as may be the case for Phase III.
How will the operation of Tamarack for Program use versus augmentation use be differentiated? If the river is under a senior downstream Colorado call or South Platte Compact requirement, Tamarack accretions to the river can be diverted for irrigation/augmentation and will not be credited toward the Tamarack Plan. Diversions into the Tamarack Project are not quantified by how the future accretions to the river may be used.
In the winter, the Grand Island gauge experiences icing problems making the resulting data unreliable. Has this problem been considered in the projection of excess flows at Grand Island? It was noted that in winter when icing conditions are affecting gauges, special provisions will need to be made.
Will Tamarack divert if Lake McConaughy EA releases are being made or the excess flow is due to some localized downstream event? It was noted that the Lake McConaughy EA releases are an input to the Tamarack Spreadsheet and that further discussion on these topics is needed.
What is Colorado's expectation of Tamarack's operation in relationship to the EA Manager? Colorado recognizes the need to coordinate Tamarack operations with the Lake McConaughy EA and the EA Manager. Colorado indicated that a Tamarack operating committee is being created from Colorado State agencies and water users that will be responsible for the day-to-day use of the spreadsheet for Tamarack operations and for coordination with the EA Manager and other project cooperators.
Lawson shared with the WMC that the Structures Committee has drafted language for the structures document (Section VII, B.) that provides a description of the Program's water management process and the relationship between the EA Manager and the Platte River Implementation Recovery Program to that process. The language discusses the development of an Annual Operating Plan (AOP) for the Program and how the AOP may be updated monthly to reflect current water supply conditions and demands. Lawson asked Strickland to distribute that section of the structures document to the WMC for review. Comments regarding the language are to be provided to Strickland via email with a copy to Myler. Comments are due by Friday, February 22, 2002.
A future meeting date was discussed. Lawson will prepare a list of potential agenda items and distribute the list to the WMC. Following the distribution of the list, the decision whether to hold a conference call or meeting will be made. March 28, 2002, was tentatively scheduled as the meeting date, if needed. It is anticipated that the meeting will be held in Denver, Colorado.
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