Final Minutes
Water Management Committee Meeting
Cheyenne, Wyoming
The Water Management Committee (WMC) meeting began at 8:15 a.m. in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Future WMC meetings were scheduled for June 1, June 14, and July 13. The June 1, 1999, WMC meeting will be held in Lakewood, Colorado, at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) Building in the 3rd floor conference room from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The June 14, 1999, WMC Associated Issues workshop with the Boyle Team will be held in Lakewood, Colorado, at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Building in the 3rd floor conference room and will start at 10 a.m. The July 13, 1999, WMC meeting will be held in North Platte, Nebraska, at the Quality Inn (previously the Holiday Inn) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The minutes of the March 15, 1999, WMC meeting were approved as revised.
Blaine Dwyer reported to the WMC on the status of the Water Conservation/Supply Reconnaissance Study (Reconnaissance Study). The draft analysis/screening results memoranda for the seven (7) categories of alternatives are on schedule to be completed and provided to the WMC for review as per the schedule shown in the March 15, 1999, WMC minutes. The draft memoranda will be provided to the WMC Chair beginning on May 7, 1999, with the last memorandum provided on May 28, 1999. The WMC Chair will distribute the information to the WMC as received. Comments from the WMC regarding the methods to be further studied for providing additional water have been received and are being considered by the Boyle Team. The comments were provided by Mike Drain regarding Phreatophyte Control and Kurt Bucholz regarding Weather Modification.
Revisions have been made to the Water Budget Spreadsheet (Spreadsheet). The updated version will be posted on Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District's (Central) File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site. The revised Spreadsheet includes a new instruction page containing further clarification on the use of the Spreadsheet.
Prior to the beginning of the workshop with the state water administrators, the WMC discussed the existing flow conditions/baseline, lag and gain/loss, and Hydrologically Connected Ground Water (HCGW) information needed to develop the tracking/accounting procedures identified in Milestone W14-1. Terms regarding baseline, lag, gain/loss, HCGW, etc., need to be clearly defined by the WMC and used consistently with a common understanding. An agenda item regarding the definition of terms will be added to the June 1 agenda. The WMC also discussed the relationship between the Reconnaissance Study and the tracking/accounting procedures. The Reconnaissance Study is a comparative assessment to measure the relative performance of the water conservation/supply alternatives on a monthly basis, while the tracking/accounting procedures must track and account for program water contributions with respect to loss, location, quantity, timing, etc., on a daily basis.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Team has asked the WMC to frame the basic assumptions that will be used in the tracking/accounting procedures and provide these assumptions to the EIS Team by August 1999 for use in the EIS analysis.
The workshop with the state water administrators portion of the meeting began at 10:15 a.m. The state water administrators present were Hal Simpson, Colorado; Roger Patterson, Nebraska; and Jeff Fassett, Wyoming. The first presentation regarding the water administration procedures was given by Mr. Simpson of the State of Colorado.
Following a lunch break from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Mr. Fassett and Ann Bleed gave presentations regarding the water administration procedures in the State of Wyoming and State of Nebraska, respectively. Differences in how water is accounted and administered in each state were discussed. The WMC discussed with the state water administrators how different types of alternatives to provide water under the Program could be administered and accounted. Generally, the water administrators indicated that reservoir/storage water would be the easiest to administer and account for regarding Program water under existing state water law. Contributions from other sources not associated with storage would be more difficult to administer and would potentially require modifications to current water laws. The water administrators expressed a willingness to work with the WMC as the tracking/accounting procedures are developed.
The workshop with the state water administrators adjourned at 3:05 p.m.
The WMC meeting reconvened at 3:15 p.m. with a discussion regarding Central's Administrative Plan for Managing Water Commitments (Administrative Plan). The WMC Chair received no comments from the WMC. It was recognized that some members had provided comments on the Administrative Plan through their respective agencies. Comments have already been received from the Service, Nebraska Public Power District, and others. The Bureau of Reclamation anticipates providing comments by the due date of April 23, 1999. The WMC Chair, at the request of the WMC, will provide comments regarding the Administrative Plan to the WMC for their information.
The meetings to be held by the states to collect input regarding the Boyle Team's short list of alternatives were discussed next. Mr. Dwyer has submitted a cost estimate for Boyle's participation at the state meetings. The meetings will be conducted in the following manner:
- The meetings are planned and conducted by the states;
- The states introduce the topic with a discussion of how the Reconnaissance Study fits with the Cooperative Agreement and the EIS process;
- Boyle provides an overview of the process to develop the long list of alternatives and discusses the screening process/results used to arrive at the short list of alternatives;
- Boyle is limited to clarifying questions related to the process to develop the short list of alternatives; and
- The states will record the comments received, which the states will submit to the WMC Chair. The WMC Chair will provide the states' comments to Boyle for consideration.
Colorado anticipates holding their meeting the week of June 7 in Greeley, Colorado. Comments from Colorado will be submitted to the WMC Chair by the June 17 due date. Nebraska and Wyoming anticipate holding their meetings the week of June 21, with the joint Wyoming/Nebraska meeting being held on June 22. It was suggested that the joint meeting be held at the Gering Civic Center. Final meeting dates, times, and locations for these meetings are yet to be determined. Nebraska and Wyoming will provide their comments regarding the short list of alternatives to the WMC Chair by June 28. The extended comment period may cause a slippage in the August 9, 1999, delivery date for the draft Reconnaissance Study Report. Any slippage is anticipated to be a week or less.
Comments regarding Boyle's short list of alternatives from the WMC are to be provided to the WMC Chair by June 17, 1999. The WMC Chair will provide these comments to Boyle for consideration in the draft Reconnaissance Study Report by June 21, 1999.
In a follow-up discussion to the workshop with the state water administrators, the WMC identified the need to begin to formulate the tracking/accounting procedures based on existing water administration in each state, including the daily losses that are applied. The ability of the water accounting methods used in each state to be connected into one system needs to be explored further. It was decided to conduct an exercise that routed a hypothetical quantity of water to the critical habitat using the daily accounting methods currently employed by the states. This evaluation will route a hypothetical quantity of water from the Colorado/Nebraska State Line on the South Platte River and from Pathfinder Reservoir in Wyoming to the critical habitat to simulate program contributions similar to the Pathfinder Modification in Wyoming and Tamarack Plan in Colorado. The time step will be daily and may use actual numbers from the month of September or a few days from each month from the 1998 irrigation season (May 1 through September 30). Ann Bleed and Becky Mathisen will perform the evaluation and coordinate the time period to be used. It is anticipated that the evaluation will be completed by May 21, 1999, and the results will be discussed at the June 1 WMC meeting.
Mike Drain, Demonstration Project Subgroup Chair, provided a status of the subgroup's efforts to develop a list of potential demonstration projects for consideration by the WMC. The subgroup has already held one conference call and plans to meet following the conclusion of the WMC meeting. Ideas regarding potential demonstration projects should be provided to Mr. Drain for consideration for inclusion on the subgroup's list.
The meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m.
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