From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District board voted Thursday to allocate 48,276 acre-feet from the project, based on its anticipated yield. Municipal allocations will be 17,606 acre-feet, with 30,670 acre-feet for agriculture. Another 10,114 acre-feet of agricultural return flows will be allocated, mostly to well owners associations. Total revenues from both allocations are about $400,000…
In particular, Colorado Springs requested far less water than it would be entitled to under the principles, just 2,000 acre-feet. Its partners in the Fountain Valley Authority — Fountain, Security, Stratmoor Hills and Widefield — have requested another 3,200 acre-feet. Colorado Springs also will receive a repayment of 700 acre-feet for water it “loaned” to the district to lower the elevation of Lake Pueblo in the Safety of Dams program. The Fountain Valley Authority would be entitled to about 12,000 acre-feet under the principles. In contrast, the Pueblo Board of Water Works requested 5,000 acre-feet, a little more than its 10 percent allocation…
The water will come in two allocations, 80 percent as soon as water begins moving and another 20 percent in July. While the district has made two allocations in previous years, this setup will give water users a guarantee of most of the water, with a provision for a cash refund if supplies fall short. “The two-allocation procedure is a new process because it’s very difficult to predict what imports are going to be,” said board member Greg Johnson, a member of the allocations committee. “Allocations would be simpler if we knew up front what the water supply will be.” Monthly forecasts on the available water by the Bureau of Reclamation have fluctuated each month as weather conditions changed from heavy snow early, to dry conditions in April, to renewed snowpack this month. Reclamation estimates that 54,700 acre-feet will be brought over. Of that, 3,000 acre-feet is owed to Twin Lakes through an exchange of West Slope water. Another 500 acre-feet goes to the Pueblo Fish Hatchery, and 15 percent is set aside for transit loss and evaporation. That leaves 43,776 acre-feet for allocation.