Department of the Interior Grant: Upper Colorado River Commission Pilot Projects Consultation

The States of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico (Upper Division States), through UCRC, have been working in parallel with Arizona, California and Nevada (Lower Division States) and public entities within the Colorado River Basin, and in conjunction with the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), to develop and implement drought contingency options, as appropriate, to avoid or reduce the likelihood of reaching critical reservoir elevations at either Lake Powell or Lake Mead. On July 16, 2013, Don Ostler, Executive Director of UCRC, testified before a Senate Subcommittee, “The Colorado River Basin remains in a very severe 14 year drought, the continuation of which could drive Lake Powell to levels that threaten the ability to generate electrical power and Lake Mead to levels that require implementation of shortages within a few years.”

Reclamation intends to award funds to UCRC that Congress appropriated in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriates Act of 2015 in the form of “(1) grants by the Secretary to public entities that use water from the Colorado River Basin for municipal purposes for projects that are implemented by 1 or more non-Federal entities; or (2) grants or other appropriate financial agreements to provide additional funds for renewing or implementing water conservation agreements that are in existence on the date of enactment of this Act.

RECIPIENT INVOLVEMENT

The Grant Agreement calls for the Commission to administer the Pilot Program in the Upper Colorado Basin. Specifically, the following Tasks are proposed:

1. developing and issuing Request for Proposals (“RFPs”) for Pilot Projects;
2. performing outreach within the Upper Basin to distribute RFPs;
3. collecting proposals and performing initial review to evaluate proposals;
4. employing consultant, as necessary, to assist with arraying and selecting projects;
5. meeting with Reclamation and the other System Conservation Partners to discuss and jointly select the Upper Basin proposals;
6. maintaining the approval documentation of the Upper Basin System Conservation Program;
7. facilitating and administering a second phase of RFPs, review, approval and project execution;
8. employing a consultant, as necessary, to assist with establishment of a verification program as necessary for each project;
9. preparing a System Conservation Implementation Agreement (“SCIA”) for each proposal selected, distribute the draft for review and approval of the Parties and execute the SCIA;
10. serving as administrator of the SCIAs as executed in the Upper Basin;
11. employing a consultant, as necessary, to conduct in field verification of conservation measures contracted for under each SCIA;
12. exploring mechanisms and opportunities available in each Upper Division State for Monitoring or estimating the System Conservation achieved by approved projects, and the system benefits, if any, of the conserved water in the Upper Basin;
13. procure a consultant to oversee the overall program.