GREEN RIVER BASIN PLAN II
BAG Meeting No. 8
Meeting Notes
January 28, 2010 6:00 PM
White Mountain Library
Rock Springs, WY

The meeting generally followed the format of the agenda distributed by the WWDO:

1. Introductions

Chace Tavelli introduced the team and presented several logistical details about the meeting. He encouraged people to visit the state.s water planning website (waterplan.satte.wy.us) for current postings of many of the planning process deliverables. He encouraged people to contribute comments online, via the comment card method, or by direct contact to state staff and consultants.

2. Colorado River Decision Support System

Chace described the goals and scope of work for the recently initiated Green River Basin Decision Support System Feasibility Study (DSS). The project is intended to identify data needs and a central location to store the data, identify tools that will use the data to help solve problems and enable effective planning, and produce cost estimates and timelines to address the aforementioned. The goal is to provide a document that the decision makers can use to decide what is necessary, when it is necessary, and how much things will cost. It is unlikely that the State could afford to build an entire DSS in one project. It will most likely be built in pieces.

3. Green River Basin Plan II - Consultant Presentation

Murray Schroeder, WWC Engineering, presented information on the Draft Final Report on the Green River Basin Plan II (or 2010 version).

His presentation, via power point, was organized in a chapter by chapter way to illustrate what the reader of the document will find when the report is made available for comment. Murray noted that the draft document should be ready for public comment by about the first week of March 2010. Most of the information that will be found in the report can be reviewed now in the form of the various Technical Memorandums that were prepared as part of the project.

Some of the more noteworthy point that Murray made in the course of the presentation included:

• The fact that current water use in the basin across all use sectors is not much different (actually slightly less) than reported in the 2001 plan.
• The fact that the surface water resource is significantly smaller than believed in 2000, by about 13%. The water availability work performed during this update included the most recent string of dry year data in the hydrologic analysis.
• That despite the similar water uses from 2001 to 2010, the fact that less water is available heightens the need to be more proactive in the water planning process.
• Murray presented a glimpse of the Strategies and recommendations Chapter of the Report, emphasizing the current planning goal of making at least some recommendations that are well defined and explicit, as opposed to recommendations with no specific activity associated with them.

At the conclusion of the presentation, Murray asked the audience for comments and questions. The following concepts were presented by audience participants as worthy of possible inclusion in the planning document:

• Riparian area condition and usefulness in the hydrologic system should somehow be promoted.
• A hydroelectric project should be considered at Warren Bridge on the main stem Green.
• An estimate of the water yield in the Green should be made that differentiates from which lands is the water originating, private versus state and federal lands.
• The base flow associated with glaciers should be monitored and trends should be noted.

4. Colorado River Basin Issues Update

John Shields presented a verbal update on various issues in the Colorado Basin, ranging from salinity control to endangered species recovery program.

END MEETING 8:30