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Upper Gunnison

Basin Drought Contingency Plan

Municipal & Industrial Water Sector

Workshop

September 25, 2024

2:30 to 4:30 p.m.

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Meeting Outcomes

  • Engage municipal and industrial water sector stakeholders in developing potential mitigation strategies and response actions for the Drought Contingency Plan (DCP).

  • Participate in a motivating discussion that positions the UGRWCD’s water users to effectively respond to and manage drought conditions into the future.

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Today’s Agenda

  • Welcome and Introductions (10 minutes)
  • Background on Drought Contingency Plan, Define Response and Mitigation Actions (10 minutes)
  • Review and Refine Goals (Break-Out Groups, 20 minutes)
  • Action Overview and Discussion (Break-Out Groups, 50 minutes)
  • Set the Stage to Prioritize Actions (25 minutes)
  • Wrap Up and Next Steps (5 minutes)

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Agreements

  • Understand hybrid meeting
    • Recording/public access
    • Move side-convos outside
  • Be respectful (of each other, time)
  • Listen to understand
  • Be clear and concise
  • Be open minded
  • Respect decision-making structure
  • Take care of your own needs

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Planning Process Purpose

  • How will we recognize the next drought in the early stages?
  • How will drought affect us?
  • How can we protect ourselves for the next drought?

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What is a Drought Contingency Plan?

  • Proactive approach for non-federal partners to prepare for and respond to drought
  • Funded through Bureau of Reclamation’s Drought Response Program
    • For our process, we are following the framework as provided by BOR
  • Drought Contingency Plan addresses:
    • How will we recognize the next drought in the early stages?
    • How will drought affect us?
    • How can we protect ourselves from the next drought?

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What is a Drought Contingency Plan?

  • Must include consideration of climate change impacts to water supplies to support long-term resiliency.
  • Enables drought planning and resiliency projects to be eligible for future funding opportunities.
    • These projects are known as Mitigation and Response Actions in the plan.
  • A collaborative planning approach used to build long-term resilience to drought.
    • The stakeholder process addresses agricultural, municipal, recreational, and environmental issues while developing broad support for Mitigation and Response Actions.

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Drought Contingency Plan Six Required Elements

  1. Drought Monitoring: Establish a process for monitoring drought, and a framework for predicting the probability of future droughts or confirming an existing drought.
  2. Vulnerability Assessment: Identify Potential drought related risks to critical resources within the planning and environmental fields and will evaluate the risks to critical resources within the planning area and the factors contributing to those risks.
  3. Mitigation Actions: Identify, evaluate, and prioritize drought actions and activities that will build long-term resilience to drought, mitigate the risks posed by drought, decrease sector vulnerabilities, and reduce the need for response actions.

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Drought Contingency Plan Six Required Elements

  1. Response Actions: Identify, evaluate, prioritize response actions and activities in coordination with Task Force members, that can be quickly triggered during specific stages of drought and implemented to address and decrease the severity of impacts of an emerging or ongoing drought.
  2. Operational and Administrative Framework: Develop a framework to identify who is responsible for undertaking the actions necessary to implement each element of the DCP, including communicating with the public about DCP developments and updates.
  3. Plan Development and Plan Update Process: The approach taken to develop the DCP will be documented including how stakeholders were engaged and how input was considered, along with schedule for monitoring, evaluating and updating DCP.

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Drought Contingency Planning Process

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Meeting Schedule

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  1. What goals are most important to you?
  2. What concepts might be missing from the goals?
  3. Are there any goals that you don’t think should be listed?
  4. Will these goals set the stage for an actionable drought plan?

Refining Goals - Questions to Consider:

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Goals to Advance Drought Resilience

  • Ensure the Drought Contingency Plan is actionable.
  • Protect and enhance the community’s built and natural water infrastructure.
  • Preserve diverse community values such as safe/quality drinking water, thriving agriculture/ranching, ecosystem health, and a strong recreational economy.
  • Be proactive and prepare for the future.
  • Use data to inform decision making.
  • Advance a collaborative approach to share responsibility, leverage resources, and connect with similar initiatives.
  • Be creative to look for win-win and multi-benefit actions and solutions.
  • Respect the hydrologic, ecological, and cultural differences in each subbasin.
  • Promote a shared and consistent message.
  • Inspire community action and a shared responsibility through education.

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Actions Defined

  • Mitigation Actions:
    • Identify, evaluate, and prioritize drought actions and activities that will build long-term resilience to drought, mitigate the risks posed by drought, decrease sector vulnerabilities, and reduce the need for response actions.
    • These are the long-term actions that water users, stakeholders, and the public implement to protect themselves from drought and drought impacts. They take place regardless of drought conditions.

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Actions Defined

  • Response Actions:
    • Identify, evaluate, and prioritize response actions and activities in coordination with Task Force members, that can be quickly triggered during specific stages of drought and implemented to address and decrease the severity of impacts of an emerging or ongoing drought.
    • These are taken only in response to a stage of drought to take immediate protection measures and are temporary actions in nature.

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  • What actions are you or others already working on?
  • What NEW actions are stand out as most important to focus on?

Potential Actions Discussion

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  1. Who could champion the actions that are not currently being pursued?
  2. What are the chances of the actions' success/impact toward mitigating drought?
  3. What barriers exist to implementing the action?
  4. Are there opportunities to partner across sectors to implement the action?

Refine Action Details

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Questions to Consider:

  • What criteria do you recommend to help prioritize these actions?

  • What actions stand out to you as priorities? Why?

  • Are there any actions that are not feasible or worth pursuing? Why?

Setting the Stage for Prioritization

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Drought Messaging Survey

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Wrap Up

  • Meeting Schedule
    • Environmental Workshop - Sept. 26, from 1 to 3 p.m.
    • Recreational Workshop - Oct. 3, from 9 to 11 p.m.
    • Agency Workshop - Oct. 15, from 1 to 3 p.m.
    • Agricultural Workshop - TBD

  • Stay Engaged

Carrie Padgett, P.E.

Harris Water Engineering, Inc.

carrie@durangowater.com

(970) 259-5322

Stacy Beaugh, Facilitator

Strategic By Nature, Inc.

stacy@bestrategicbynature.com

(630) 854-5129