SUBJECT:
Title
Settlement of Water Court Case with City of Boulder
Body
DEPARTMENT: Utilities Department
Department
PRESENTER(S): Todd Fessenden, Utilities Director
First Name Last Name, Title
FISCAL SUMMARY:
Cost as Recommended: N/A
Balance Available: N/A
Budget Line Item Number: N/A
New Appropriation Required: No
POLICY ISSUES:
The settlement in this case achieves the stated Council Priorities of a Safe and Healthy Community, Environmental Sustainability and Fiscal Responsibility in ensuring safeguards in place to protect quality and quantity of the Town's most valuable asset, its water supply.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Informational report only, no action needed.
End
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND OF SUBJECT MATTER:
At the Aug. 13 Executive Session Council authorized Special Water Counsel Steve Bushong to attempt to negotiate a settlement with City of Boulder in the pending water court case, regarding their application to store effluent in Panama Reservoir. If Mr. Bushong couldn't find a fair and reasonable settlement, we would prepare an appeal to the Court's recent ruling on Boulder's motion regarding enforceability of injury claims by senior conditional water rights holders. Fortunately, appealing was not necessary because we were able to settle the matter amicably on Aug. 27 with City of Boulder reflecting terms Council had authorized. Boulder County, a co-applicant to the City's water court filing, has also approved the settlement. A simple explanation of the attached Settlement Agreement is below:
Water Quality Monitoring, Data Sharing and Future Protection:
Boulder Agrees to support Erie's efforts in obtaining water quality data from Panama Reservoir in the future through one, or a combination, of:
* In-reservoir sampling
* Sampling at the reservoir outfall,
* In the outfall channel that runs through Boulder County-owned land and;
* To share any water quality data Boulder collects for its own purposes related to this ...
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