Colorado River Drought Contingency
Planning and Demand Management
Feasibility
Brent Newman - Section Chief - Interstate, Federal, and Water
Information Section, CWCB
CWCB May Meeting – Gunnison, CO

 Overview

Ongoing outreach efforts
DCP status

2019 Work Plan update

Looking forward

DCP and Demand Management Outreach
since March Board meeting
• Water Bank Work Group – Fruita
• Tribal Interests Workgroup – Ignacio
• Southwestern Water Conservation District – Durango
• Yampa/White/Green Basin Roundtable – Craig
• Metro Basin Roundtable – Denver
• Colorado River Water Conservation District – Glenwood Springs
• American Water Resources Association Colorado Section – Golden
• Arkansas River Basin Water Forum – Pueblo
• South Platte Basin Roundtable - Longmont

 Moving Forward with DCP
CLOSE…. But not done
• Congressional hearings in March.
• Legislation passed in House and Senate – to President’s desk.
• Signed by President on April 16.
• Moving forward:
• Finalization of ICS exhibits – approved by UCRC.
• IID ongoing issues.
• Final signatures for DCP documentation, including Secretary of the Interior –
planned for May 20.
• Trigger Mexico participation in DCP through water scarcity plan of Minute
323.
• Apply all elements of DCPs to operational determinations for water year 2020
in August.

 CWCB Policy Statement
“Develop the state’s position and approach on whether and
how to develop any Upper Basin Demand Management
Program that could potentially be implemented within
Colorado consistent with state law to avoid or mitigate the risk
of involuntary compact curtailment and to enhance certainty
and security in the Colorado River water supply.”

        

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Managemen

2019 Work Plan
• Purpose
• Tasks
•
•
•
•
•

Initial Issue Identification
Establish Workgroups
Conduct Workshops
Evaluate and Report
Project Management

• Timelines
• Deliverables
• Estimated Resources/Costs

 Tasks: Establish Workgroups
• To help identify and evaluate priority issues within Colorado
regarding demand management feasibility.
• Guided by criteria in Support and Policy Statement.
• First job: formulate meaningful scopes of work, budgets, and timeline
for initial work to be completed in CY 2019.
• Keeping in mind: the need for an effective and efficient process.

 Tasks: Establish Workgroups
• Proposed Workgroups:
• Law and Policy
• Monitoring and Verification
• Water Rights Administration and Accounting
• Environmental Considerations
• Economic Considerations
• Funding
• Education and Outreach
• Agricultural Impacts
• Tribal Interests

 Who’s on the Workgroups?
• Subject matter experts in the identified area of investigation.
• Not based on affiliation, employment, membership of an
organization. Selected in individual capacity and not as a
representative.
• Demonstrated willingness to apply their skills to help assess statewide
demand management considerations within Colorado.
• Generally, not already an active voice or in a leadership role in other
forums and groups discussing demand management considerations.

 Workgroup Invitations
• Important considerations:
• Workgroup members and any affiliated organization will
not be allowed to submit a bid to serve as a consultant for
a standing work group.
• Workgroup members will be expected to sign a
confidentiality agreement to abstain from discussing
outside of the work group forums any information that is
deemed confidential or privileged per the terms of the
agreement.

 Workgroup Invitations
• Workgroups may participate in deliberative and privileged discussions
regarding information which may be subject to confidentialities until
they are made available to the public as part of the outreach or
decision-making efforts at appropriate times.
• Recommendations to the CWCB and relevant work product of the
workgroups will be made public and disclosed at appropriate times
throughout the process.

 Workgroup Process
• The “rubber meets the road” in these discussions, as it does in other
demand management forums.
• We are giving the workgroups breathing room to have frank and
candid conversations and to help identify solutions.
• Identified workgroup members will begin receiving calls and emails
next week.
• Once the workgroup members have agreed to serve, a roster will be posted of
the full membership to the CWCB website.

 WORKGROUPS ARE BUT A PIECE OF THE
DEMAND MANAGEMENT PIE
Throughout the process, the CWCB will continue to interface with
existing water user groups to provide updates and get feedback:
• Basin Roundtables.
• Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC).
• Water provider, conservation, conservancy district and other policy
boards and stakeholder organizations.
• Water Resources Review Committee.
• Comments and other questions can also be provided to the CWCB at
demandmanagement@state.co.us.

 Tasks: Conduct Workshops
• CWCB/AG Colorado River team to develop and conduct public
workshops to continue outreach on Colorado River issues, specifically
the issues associated with demand management feasibility.
• Open lines of communication.
• Provide forum for public review of Workgroup process.
• Receive feedback and input regarding status of DM investigation process.

• Will not take the place of ongoing outreach efforts.
• After workgroup orientation we’ll start getting these on the books.

 Timelines
• May 20 – Signing of DCP documents
• Late May – internal CWCB orientation
• June – “All-Hands” Workgroup orientation
• June 21 – Upper Colorado River Commission Demand Management
Workshop, Salt Lake City
• June 27-28 – Upper Colorado River Commission biannual meeting,
Keystone

Not anticipating completion of feasibility investigations by end of
2019. Simply starting the process.

 Questions, comments, guidance:
Brent Newman, CWCB
• Brent.newman@state.co.us

Project Management Team
• demandmanagement@state.co.us