Colorado River Compact Administration Program

Steve WolffColorado River CoordinatorInterstate Streams Division

Wyoming State Engineer’s Office

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Colorado River Compact Administration Program

• Initiated in 2006• Overall purpose of the program is to ensure the

State of Wyoming is the leading authority on the allocation and use of water in the Colorado River Basin of Wyoming, and to protect Wyoming’s apportionments as outlined in the two basin compacts

• Focus is on “man-made depletions” of water from the system

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Colorado River Basin - Wyoming

• ~ 17,500 square miles

• Eleven 8-digit HUCs

• >21,000 stream miles (1:100K)

• > 2,000 points of diversion

• > 6,000 active water right permits

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Data Collection & Tools

• Weather/Climate

• Basin Hydrology/Groundwater

• Evapotranspiration

• Water rights attribution

• Administration/Decision support tools

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Weather/Climate

• Three small weather stations activated in 2007

• Five fully sensored AgriMet stations to be installed in 2009

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Basin Hydrology

• Installing additional measuring points at diversions, streams and reservoirs– Includes recording instrumentation and

telemetry capabilities– 100 upgraded and new sites proposed under

FY09-10 budget– An additional 166 sites have been identified;

instrumentation will depend on funding

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Basin Hydrology

• Compiling better data on M&I use in the

basin

• Building data set for basin hydrology forecast and accounting model

• Groundwater• Inventory of groundwater data being compiled as

part of Wyoming’s Water Planning program

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ET From Irrigated LandsCooperative Projects with University of Wyoming & State Climate

Office

Application of Remote Sensing Technologies Using LandSat Imagery

• ET Model (METRIC™) Calibrated to Wyoming

• Assessed basin-wide consumptive use for 2007 growing season

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ET From Irrigated LandsCooperative Projects with University of Wyoming & State Climate

Office

• Installed two eddy covariance towers in July 2008

• Used to develop highly accurate reference ET data sets for given site

• Data used to validate METRIC™ model

• Will also collect scintillometer data in 2009

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Water Rights Attribution

• Mapping and attributing all irrigated lands in the basin

• Field verification and checking work completed during summer/fall 2008

• Project completed in early 2009

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Administration & Decision Support Tools

• Working with Upper Basin Compact Commission and other upper basin states to outline curtailment policy

• Working with WWDC to assess development of a DSS

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QUESTIONS??