The Water Management Committee meeting (WMC) began at 9:20 a.m. in Lakewood, Colorado. The agenda was reviewed and the Ground Water Flooding Subgroup Chair, Duane Woodward, was asked to brief the WMC on the status of ground water activities. Mr. Woodward reported:

• the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has installed continuous recorders in wells;
• hourly readings from these recorders have been taken from April 1 through September 30;
• radar is being used to estimate rainfall within four acre grids;
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has installed wells near the existing gauging stations that have been located by means of a Global Positioning System (GPS) and will develop a detailed water level map; and
• LandStat imagery is being used to delineate wet areas.

The next step will be to use the information collected to further examine the relationships between water level, rainfall, and river stage. It was also identified this information will be used to define existing conditions for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) effort.

Mr. Woodward was also asked to provide a brief update on the Cooperative Hydrology Study being sponsored by the Central Platte Natural Resources District (NRD) and others. Mr. Woodward reported:

The resulting database and models will be used by the NRDs to develop ground water management plans and examine surface water/ground water interaction. While the ground water models will not be completed in time for the use in the EIS effort, it is anticipated the ground water database will provided useful information. Nebraska will also use this information for their New Depletions Plan.

Mark Butler of the EIS Team briefed the WMC on the OPSTUDY issues arising in the EIS process (refer to the document provided by Mr. Butler entitled, OPSTUDY ISSUES ARISING IN THE EIS PROCESS dated September 15, 1999). It was noted the document provided was for informational purposes only. Mr. Butler described the modifications and refinements made to the existing OPSTUDY model for use in the EIS evaluation.

After a lunch break from 11:40 a.m. to 12:50 p.m., EIS Manager Curt Brown, briefed the WMC on the approach the EIS Team anticipates using in the analysis of yield for water alternatives. The EIS Manager's briefing covered the following topics.

Models:

While the ability to model a host of different alternatives has been programmed into the existing models, it was recognized that additional changes to these models may be required. These changes may be time consuming and require the EIS Team to make assumptions regarding implementation and modeling of the specific elements.

Time Period:

Accounting:

Baseline:

Yield/Score:

Pulse Flows:

Other Elements:

Conservation:

After a short break from 2:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., the meeting continued with a discussion of the status of the Water Conservation/Supply Study. Comments provided by Becky Mathisen, John Lawson, Kurt Bucholz, Jon Altenhofen, Frank Kwapnioski, and Dan Luecke regarding the draft Boyle Report have been provided to Boyle Engineering for consideration. Other entities are planning to submit comments. It was identified that Nebraska anticipates requesting additional time to provide comments on the draft Boyle Report at the WAPC on September 16.

The Executive Director reported the peer review of the draft Boyle Report is continuing and the peer review comments will be provided by September 24 as scheduled. It was identified that some Nebraska water users are concerned the peer review will constitute acceptance of the draft Boyle Report. Peer review of the draft Boyle Report is not a decision point. The peer review will serve to examine the process used to identify/evaluate the alternatives contained in the draft Boyle Report and determine if the product meets the scope of services. It is recognized that additional analysis may be required as alternatives identified in the Boyle Report are used to formulate a Water Action Plan.

The WMC discussed the draft Boyle Report with Blaine Dwyer. Mr. Dwyer indicated the preference to address all comments at once. Comments not incorporated in the draft Boyle Report would be responded to in a memorandum. The preferred method to finalize the report is to replace affected pages of the draft report. The due date for the final report is October 15, 1999. If the delivery date of the final report is extended, contract issues with Boyle Engineering may need to be discussed.

The WMC offered the following comments regarding the draft Boyle Report to Mr. Dwyer at the meeting. Concerns were expressed with the high values of consumptive use shown in the USGS water use data of Table A.3 for irrigation. The data in Table A.3 was only used to characterize the water use in the basin and other data were used in the evaluation of the alternatives. Boyle Engineering was asked to provide more information regarding the evaluation of the Power Interference Alternative as the discussion in the draft Boyle Report is hard to follow. It was also suggested the information in Table 11.3 be included in the executive summary of the report and text provided discussing mutually exclusive alternatives. Questions were also raised concerning how cost estimates were made.

Next the WMC discussed demonstration projects. A proposal has been prepared by the Executive Director that would make available members of his staff to assist the WMC in preparing planning documents for potential demonstration projects. The planning document would identify the necessary permits and/or approvals; the permitting authority/agency; information and coordination requirements, including environmental impact analysis as required; estimated costs of obtaining necessary permits/approvals; recommended strategy for obtaining the permit/approval; a lead federal agency; project sponsor, etc. The preparation of this type of planning document would satisfy the Governance Committee's need for a detailed project proposal and would provide the answers to the questions raised by the Governance Committee at their August 18 meeting.

Jon Altenhofen indicated the Demonstration Project Subgroup has identified the Plum Creek Demonstration Project as the highest priority. Mr. Altenhofen presented a sample partnership contract/agreement for the Plum Creek Project to the WMC for consideration.

Don Kraus discussed with the WMC a proposal identifying specific project sponsors that would design and develop a potential demonstration project privately and offer the project to Governance Committee. This approach would be subject to the following conditions:

2) the Governance Committee authorizes the WMC to work with the project sponsors on design, scoping, monitoring, etc. as needed; and

3) the Governance Committee does the environmental review to enter a contract with the project sponsors.

Annual operation costs of the project would be funded under the Cooperative Agreement.

From the above discussion, three methods/processes to develop potential demonstration projects were identified to be brought to the Governance Committee for approval:

3) Project Sponsor Built.

The WMC discussed creating a written document that identifies the concepts/details associated with the three methods/processes of developing demonstration projects and seeking Governance Committee acceptance at their October meeting. The document would be provided to Governance Committee before the meeting.

By consensus, the WMC will pursue the Executive Director's proposal to offer staff assistance to the WMC to prepare detailed planning documents for potential demonstration projects. Further, the WMC supports the project sponsor approach suggested by Mr. Kraus. Mr. Kraus will revise his proposal in anticipation of seeking Finance Committee and Governance Committee approval when/if the Governance Committee approves this method. The WMC Chair will distribute Mr. Altenhofen's sample draft partnership contract/agreement for the Plum Creek Project dated September 15, 1999, to the WMC for review and comment. A comment period of three weeks was specified.

Future meetings of the WMC are scheduled to be held as follows.

The October meeting will include a discussion of definition of terms for Milestone W14-1. Please refer to the Definition of Terms - facsimile from Mike Purcell to John Lawson dated June 8, 1999. This facsimile was provided to the WMC members/participants by letter from the WMC Chair dated August 27, 1999.

The meeting adjourned at 5:40 p.m.