Title
Approval of Contract No. 19-WC-40-727 with the United States Bureau of Reclamation for Lease of the 2019 Allocation of San Juan/Chama Project Water
Recommended Action
I move that the Board of Public Utilities approve Contract No. 19-WC-40-727 between the Incorporated County of Los Alamos and the United States Bureau of Reclamation for lease of the County’s 2019 allocation of San Juan/Chama Project water.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends approval of the lease agreement per the motion as presented.
Body
Since taking over the Contract for the San Juan-Chama Project from the Department of Energy in 1998, the County has leased its annual allocation back to the Bureau of Reclamation. The Bureau has used this water to augment the total water supply to the Middle Rio Grande Valley (endangered minnow habitat low flows and/or irrigation needs) at its discretion.
The Department of Public Utilities has developed a cost effective plan to develop facilities and use the County’s allotment, but until facilities are put in place to actually divert the water, we cannot claim it for use. We have leased storage space in Abiquiu Reservoir to store slightly less than one year’s allocation of water but that space is currently subleased to the City of Santa Fe. Contractually, the water can only be released to a downstream user, so merely letting it go down the river is not a legal option for the County. If the water is not used by December 31st each year we must forgo the delivery but still pay for it. The Bureau this year has offered $61.00 per acre-foot for the water which totals $73,200 for the entire 1,200 acre-foot allocation for 2019. Furthermore, to give the Bureau maximum flexibility in the use of the water, there is a waiver included in the contract deferring the release date from 31 December 2019 until 30 September 2020. The per acre-foot payment offered by the Bureau is based on previous recent years' costs for operation and maintenance of the system with pr...
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