Final Minutes
Water Management Committee Meeting

The Water Management Committee (WMC) meeting began at 10:15 a.m. in Kearney, Nebraska. The next WMC meeting will be held in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on January 5, 1999. Discussion regarding holding a meeting with the Boyle Team in December was deferred until later in the meeting.

The revised minutes of the October 6 meeting and October 15 workshop were distributed and reviewed. The minutes were approved.

The Executive Director, Dale Strickland, was asked about the status of the Time Period Justification provided to the Governance Committee and if it had been approved. The Executive Director indicated that the Governance Committee does not need to approve all work products along the way. Interim work products sent to the Governance Committee through the Executive Director are provided for their information and they may send comments to the Chair of the Water Management Committee at any time.

The subject of Peer Review was discussed with respect to Milestone W14-1 of the Cooperative Agreement. The WMC has focused on the development of the first 3 bullet items of Milestone W14-1 for use by the Water Conservation/Supply Study (Study) Consultant in the 4th bullet. Peer review of the Study report will include review of bullets 1 through 3: exiting flow conditions; monthly loss factors; and method to determine hydrologically connected ground water. The level of peer review for the Study report needs to be identified. For example, the Study review should be based on whether technically sound science and an appropriate process was employed with respect to the reconnaissance level of the Study. Further, it is anticipated that the Study report will also be reviewed in detail by the states of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming. It was estimated that the peer review of the Study report could be completed in approximately six (6) weeks if funds were made available. During this peer review process, the WMC could prepare a draft Action Plan. It was noted that the Action Plan was not envisioned as a work product needing peer review.

It is the responsibility of the WMC to initiate the Peer Review process. It was suggested that subgroups be formed and tasked with developing a Peer Review Plan and Work Plan. The Peer Review Plan will identify the work products to be peer reviewed, nature of peer review, and time frame for the peer review. The Work Plan will outline the steps/process the WMC will follow for development of the accounting/tracking procedures and development of the draft Action Plan. Formation of such subgroups were deferred until later.

The WMC discussed the differences between the use of the first 3 bullet items of Milestone W14-1 for the Study versus the accounting/tracking procedures. A two phase approach has been employed by the WMC to address Milestone W14-1. Phase one (1) has focused on preparing the information needed by the Consultant for the Study. Phase two (2) focuses on developing the accounting/tracking procedures identified in the 5th bullet. It is anticipated that the second phase will build upon the information already prepared under phase one, by incorporating more detail information as required for the accounting/tracking procedures.

A copy of the Water Management Committee Budget Request dated November 13, 1998, was distributed and discussed. The WMC will fund at least three (3) public meetings, at least one in each State, for the purpose of disseminating information and allowing the Consultant to obtain public input regarding the Short List of Alternatives. These public meetings will be arranged by the Governance Committee as part of its outreach program and will be attended by WMC members, the Consultant, and the Executive Director. In addition, a professional facilitator will be employed to plan, conduct, and provide facilitation services for the meetings. The estimated costs for the meeting series is $30,000, which includes the cost for meeting facilities and hiring a professional facilitator. It is anticipated that public meetings for the Short List of Alternatives will begin in February 1999. A similar process is contemplated for the Action Plan after it has been provisionally developed.

These public meetings must be planned in advance to clearly establish the objectives of the meetings, message to be presented to the public, and ensure that public input is genuinely considered. It was suggested that a document that outlined the goals, desired outcome, and use of the public input from the meetings be prepared. These public meetings will provide a forum for the Consultant to present and receive input on the work completed. The Consultant needs to continue to do the Study independently, with input from the WMC. Input regarding the results of the Study received from the WMC and others should be considered by the Consultant and incorporated based on the professional judgement of the Consultant.

After a lunch break from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., the WMC discussed the work of the W14-1 Subgroup. The Subgroup is in the process of finalizing the documentation for the Existing Flow Conditions and Monthly Loss Factors. These documents will be provided to the WMC Chair the week of December 7, 1998. The WMC will review these documents and provide comments to the WMC Chair by December 23, 1998. It is the goal of the WMC to submit these documents to the Governance Committee at their January 6, 1999, meeting. The Subgroup has also discussed preparing a document that summarizes the use of the monthly loss factors to route a hypothetical quantity of water from given reaches to the critical habitat. Jon Altenhofen will prepare this summary of the use of the monthly loss factors and present it to the WMC at the January 5, 1999, meeting.

It was suggested that the Consultant be asked to present and discuss their water budgets to the WMC at the January 5 meeting. The WMC Chair will notify the Consultant to be prepared to discuss their water budgets at the next meeting. The Consultant's presentation regarding water budgets will be added to the agenda for the January 5 meeting.

Next the WMC discussed hydrologically connected ground water. The WMC agreed to adopt the SDF (Streamflow Depletion Factor) Method for determining hydrologically connected ground water for the Study. Further, the WMC will review the Consultant's draft document entitled Platte River Study Methodology for Analyzing Hydrologically Connected Ground Water dated October 6, 1998, as justification for using the SDF Method. This draft document was provided to the WMC by letter dated October 14, 1998. Comments on the SDF Method document are to be submitted to the WMC Chair during the week of December 7, 1998. A transmittal memorandum stating the adoption of the SDF Method by the WMC will be prepared. It is anticipated the transmittal memorandum and SDF Method Documentation will be provided to the Governance Committee at their January 6, 1999, meeting.

The WMC Chair reported to the WMC his estimate of the total remaining dollars for Water Conservation/Supply Alternatives. It was estimated that of the total $75 million budget for the Cooperative Agreement, only $38.3 million ($75.0-15.0-16.7-5.0=$38.3) is available for implementation of Water Conservation/Supply Alternatives. Table 1 of Appendix B of the Cooperative Agreement specifies a total contribution by the States and Federal Government of $15 million for the term of the Cooperative Agreement and specifies the contributed value of water projects (Tamarack, Pathfinder Modification, and Kingsley Plans) during the Cooperative Agreement and the first program increment at $16.7 million. Further, it was estimated that $5 million (10,000 acres x $500 per acre) is needed for habitat acquisition. This estimate does not include the cost for annual maintenance of land or monitoring costs.

After discussing the remaining dollar amount of $38.3 million and the potential of money management to leverage more, the WMC maintained the decision made at the November 12 workshop to use the value of $50 million as a screening criteria. The screening criteria will be:

The WMC Chair will present the estimated $38.3 million for Water Conservation/Supply Alternatives to the Governance Committee and state the WMC has chosen the value of $50 million for screening purposes.

The Short List of Alternatives to be completed in February 1999, was discussed. It is anticipated that the Short List will identify those alternatives that passed the screening criteria and will receive further evaluation. The WMC questioned if this screening process would include routing water to the critical habitat and if the Consultant planned to discuss political issues associated with some alternatives when meeting with the States to discuss operations. The WMC Chair volunteered to call the Consultant at the upcoming break to answer these questions.

The need to hold a meeting with the Consultant was discussed. The next meeting for the WMC will be January 5, 1999, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. At this meeting, the Consultant will provide a status of the Study. The WMC needs a work plan that identifies the remaining work tasks and the steps for timely completion of those tasks. The WMC Chair will prepare a draft work plan. Dan Luecke, Mike Drain, Ann Bleed, Frank Kwapnioski, and Jon Altenhofen were asked to assist with the development of the work plan by reviewing and providing comments to the WMC Chair. It is anticipated the work plan will be distributed to the WMC at the January 5, 1999, meeting.

After a break from 3:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., the WMC Chair reported that the Consultant was out of the office and would not be available until later. The WMC Chair will contact the Consultant later and E-mail or fax the results of the conversation to the WMC. The WMC's expectations are:

Jon Altenhofen provided Colorado's responses to the WMC comments regarding Colorado's Plan for Future Depletions. He also provided a 3.5 inch floppy diskette containing a updated version of the Future Depletions Plan interactive tool (CRANE1198.XLS) and the file DENVER2.XLS. Colorado is anticipating approval of their plan for future depletions at the January 6, 1999, Governance Committee meeting. If any WMC members have additional questions/concerns after reviewing the responses, contact the WMC Chair, who will coordinate a one-on-one session with Colorado to discuss their concerns. The due date to contact the WMC Chair with questions/concerns is December 4, 1998. WMC members not present were identified and Mr. Altenhofen will provide this information to them.

The draft copy of the WMC Charter was distributed and reviewed. The following revisions were made.

By consensus of the WMC members, the WMC Charter was approved with the revisions noted above.

Water related third party impacts listening sessions were briefly discussed. The potential to hold a water related third party impacts listening session in Nebraska in conjunction with a Land Committee meeting needs to be addressed. The WMC Chair and Executive Director will talk to the Governance Committee representative from the State of Nebraska regarding this subject and report back to the WMC at the January 5 meeting.

The last item discussed was the level of detail for the Action Plan. The Consultant's Study report will identify viable alternatives by reach and the quantity of water produced at the critical habitat. An initial Action Plan framed using a reach approach identifying alternatives should be consistent with the county level analysis being done by the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Team. The Action Plan framework will be filled in as incentive based projects are identified.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.