Minutes - Water Resources - 2/26/2001 DRAFT
WATER RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD
FINAL MEETING MINUTES
February 26, 2001
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT
Robert Fiehweg, Jeannette Hillery, Vicki Naber; Cal Youngberg was absent
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT
Ned Williams, Carol Ellinghouse, Paul Lander, Chris Rudkin, Robin Madel, secretary
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:09 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM 1
Approval of December 18, 2000 Meeting Minutes
The minutes were approved and signed.
Vicky Naber motioned to approve the minutes.
Jeanette Hillery seconded.
The motion passed unanimously, 3-0.
AGENDA ITEM 2
General Citizen Participation
There was none.
AGENDA ITEM 3
Staff update on the lease of Windy Gap water to the Calpine Corporation for use as cooling
water at a newly-constructed electrical generating facility in Colorado (Staff - Carol
Ellinghouse).
Carol Ellinghouse presented the lease agreement that was approved by the City Council at their
meeting on February 20, 2001. This item was supposed to be presented to the WRAB at the
January meeting (before the City Council meeting) but the WRAB meeting was cancelled. She
went over all aspects of the contract and the benefits to the city of Boulder. The WRAB was very
supportive of the arrangement and felt that it was a winning agreement for all involved parties.
The agreement will allow for diversion of 30 units of Windy Gap water from the Windy Gap
Reservoir to be sold to Calpine as re-use water. The Public Utilities Commission approved the
project. The cost to bring the water over is expensive, about $48-$50 per acre-ft. The water will
be delivered to a combined cycle power station in Hudson, Colorado that is being constructed by
the Calpine Corporation. The town of Hudson originally rejected the project but subsequently
supported it.
Broomfield and Estes Park use all of their Windy Gap shares but Boulder hasn't used much of its
Windy Gap water. There is the danger that Boulder could lose its rights to the water. The Fish
and Wildlife Service issued a report stating that existing and a limited amount of future
diversions of water from the reservoir (and therefore the Colorado River) will not be harmful to
aquatic environments. But there may be significant limitations on future diversions and there is a
cap on how much water can be diverted. The limit is 120,000 ac-ft and there are 29,000 ac-ft that
are as risk of being prevented from diversions. The city of Boulder has rights to 37 units of
water, which translates into 3700 ac-ft of water.
The 30 units of water that will be sent to Calpine would have a shrinkage rate of 25% included.
If the shrinkage rate goes higher than that, Calpine will get less water. The additional 7 units of
Windy Gap water could be used but the city would have to build more storage to accommodate
that water.
The City Council approved the proposal based on a term letter, the components of which are
presented in the agenda item cover memo. The basics include a 20-year lease with $40K paid up-
front. There would have to be an agreement between the suppliers and the municipal subdistricts
to form one entity for payment.
The agreement will introduce another 1,225 ac-ft of water into Boulder's water system and
would be sold to Calpine as re-use water. The Windy Gap water use would replace Colorado-Big
Thompson water use, which would be sold for agricultural uses.
The project will bring in a significant amount of money to the city. The money will be used to
offset further rate increases. The money has not been budgeted into future rate projections. The
City Council had no questions for the staff at the council meeting. They discussed the downside
of the sale as being construction of a power facility that would generate more electricity and
could promote more growth. But the City Council was supportive of the lease arrangement, as
was the WRAB.
Citizen Participation and TAB Comment
There was none.
AGENDA ITEM 4
Agenda Item 4 - Staff update on the city Environmental Management Audit and the part
dealing with city irrigation water use (Staff - Paul Lander).
Paul Lander discussed the study session held on February 13, 2001 between the City Council, the
WRAB, the Environmental Advisory Board (EAB) and the Parks and Recreation Advisory
Board (PRAB). The session was conducted to discuss the Environmental Audit, which covers
Water Conservation and Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The main focus of the session
ended up being the city of Boulder's IPM program. Proportionately little time was given to the
city's Water Conservation program.
There will be a section on irrigation water re-use. The WRAB and staff discussed water re-use
and whether or not it was feasible within the city of Boulder. Many of the water rights that the
city holds are for one-time use of the water. Windy Gap water has re-use rights and selling it to
Calpine is a good re-use of the water. The only major use of non-treated water in the city now is
the city golf course, which irrigates with ditch water. The city makes good use of its raw water.
At this time it is not economically feasible to re-use water in any significant manner because of
the infrastructure that would be required and the lack of existing re-use rights available. Also, the
Health Department has not completely examined all of the health-related issues in re-using
treated wastewater.
The WRAB and staff also discussed water allocations within city of Boulder departments and
what plans the city has for drought management. The city is discussing re-opening the
departmental allocation system with the other departments and having departments pay for their
overages. The issue is how to get departments to manage their water use. The average citizen
doesn't care about which department is responsible for efficient water use they just want across
the board conservation and efficient use.
The WRAB discussed whether or not other boards should be addressed and what the appropriate
method for doing that would be. The staff members within different departments are discussing
the issue but Paul Lander said he feels the WRAB can play a role in the effort. The board
members felt strongly that other boards should be made aware of the importance of water
conservation. Jeannette Hillery said that she would like WRAB to educate the other boards about
the water conservation potentials that lie in other board issues.
The WRAB would like a forum for addressing other boards and the City Council. They asked to
have a position paper drafted that they can recommend to the other boards and the Council at
future meetings. The position paper could also help the consultant preparing the Environmental
Audit to prepare the final report. The WRAB is concerned that the water conservation issue was
underplayed in the draft audit and would like to take an official position. They would like to
make clear how water is used in Boulder versus other communities in the metro area and which
measures, such as re-use, are appropriate.
The videotape of the study session will be distributed to the members by the next meeting. Also
by the next meeting staff will have an outline of the position paper developed.
Citizen Participation
There was none.
AGENDA ITEM 5
A short history and showing of the videotape from the Environmental Center of the
Rockies (Staff - Paul Lander).
The video was shown and the specifics of the project were discussed.
Citizen Participation
There was none.
AGENDA ITEM 6
Matters from the Board
■ The Board asked what is going on with the South Boulder Creek Floodplain Study. The Open
Space Department has said that they will hire a new consultant to generate a new list of
options. Bill DeGroot from Urban Drainage addressed the City Council and said that the final
decision needs to rest with the governing agencies. The consultant is looking at options for
conducting an open house or a joint study session with the City Council and the County
Commissioners.
AGENDA ITEM 6
Matters from the Staff
■ The acquisition of Barker Reservoir will close on Thursday or Friday (3/1/01 or 3/2/01).
■ The Lakewood Pipeline project is being reviewed by the Forest Service staff with hopes of a
revised decision by the end of March. The city is proceeding with paying to disconnect
property owners and users that are on the existing supply line.
■ The city has negotiated the purchase of conservation easements within Caribou Ranch. The
deal should be presented to the County Commissioners by the end of March 2001.
Conservation easements limit, but do not prevent, development.
■ Staff is preparing the 2002 budget and will bring the conceptual budget to the WRAB in
March or April. Sales tax revenues were better than expected for December 2000 and were
up 4% to 5% over last year, however Crossroads was down approximately 25%.
■ The staff is working on a rate study and has hired a consultant, Integrated Utilities Group, to
perform the study. The study is looking at revenues from monthly bills and plant investment
fees (the city has invested heavily in assets and these numbers are expected to increase from
increased development fees). The staff hopes to have the study completed at the same time
the budget is completed.
■ The WRAB board has 2 vacancies and the city received 3 applications. Interviews will be
conducted on March 15 (this date must be confirmed) and a decision and appointments will
be made on March 20.
■ Staff is continuing to work with the Open Space department on the joint pipeline project to
get water to Lafayette at 751h St. and the project is going well.
■ The Automatic Meter Reading project is continuing and is going well.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 9:09 p.m.
Future meetings
March 26, 2001 in the Creekside Room of the West Senior Center.