SPWRAP Financial & Reporting Obligations

For the First Increment – the thirteen years from 2006 through 2019 – Colorado provided $24 Million to PRRIP to help fund habitat acquisition, scientific studies, PRRIP staff and related costs.  For the First Increment Extension (2020 through 2032), Colorado will need to provide an additional $24.9 Million.  Colorado’s financial obligation is relatively larger, and its water obligation is relatively smaller, than those of Wyoming and Nebraska, in recognition of the facts that Colorado’s impact on flows in the Big Bend Reach of the Platte in Nebraska is more attenuated, and the population in the South Platte Basin in Colorado makes contributing financially somewhat easier for Colorado than for the other two states. 

Financial obligations

SPWRAP entered a Memorandum of Agreement with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources regarding the allocation between them of Colorado’s obligations to PRRIP.  The MoA has been amended over time as issues related to funding and other aspects have evolved.

SPWRAP also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Colorado Division of Wildlife (now Colorado Parks & Wildlife) establishing the specific rights and responsibilities of both parties in connection with the construction, operation, maintenance and ownership of the recharge project built on the Tamarack State Wildlife Area, and the recharge credits that result from it.

Through membership assessments, SPWRAP generates the funds necessary to accomplish those obligations allocated to it in its agreements with the State of Colorado, in addition to operating dedicated and leased recharge projects, supporting various technical efforts for the benefit of SPWRAP and its members, and SPWRAP’s operations.

Reporting obligations

Annually, SPWRAP, on behalf of Colorado, submits to PRRIP two reports for the South Platte River Basin which review Colorado’s attainment of its water obligations for Tamarack I and Tamarack II (CPFD) through the managed groundwater recharge projects. The current reports are available on the SPWRAP website.  Every five years, SPWRAP reviews the assumptions of the CPFD through questionnaires sent to the municipal members of SPWRAP.  This was last completed in 2020, as part of the annual reporting to PRRIP.  These reports are reviewed and accepted by the PRRIP Water Advisory Committee (WAC).  Colorado also submits compliance reporting to PRRIP for the North Platte River Basin in Colorado.