Quota Accounting

Every year GMS well pumpers await the annual quota announcement. The figure, a percentage of total pumping allowed on a given irrigation contract, is determined by analyzing current GMS water supply and depletions. Ruthanne Schaffer, CCWCD’s Water Accountant, is instrumental in this analysis. Below, Ruth answers common questions about the quota and water accounting.

Ruth, what is the current quota, and what influenced this decision?

The CCWCD board set a 45% quota for the 2010 irrigation season in May. The previous quota was set at 38% in April. May’s increase reflects new sources of water; 3,000 acre feet of water recharged in the Box Elder Creek basin, a water lease extension with the city of Thornton, numerous of other recharge projects and the fact that there has only been three days of call on the South Platte River.

How is this quota set?

GMS staff calculate the quota. In years past, contracted engineers would calculate the potential quota and present it to the board after staff review and participation. Under the new procedure, GMS staff run the calculations, consulting engineers review, and then the board approves. When CCWCD is done, the quota spreadsheet is sent to the Division 1 Division Engineer per the decree requirement of the augmentation plan.

The actual quota is determined by the projection tool required in the GMS Decree. This is a massive excel workbook that contains GMS water sources, including: senior storage and direct flow water rights, recharge, leases, and augmentation wells. The tool covers a seven year span, and takes all these sources and calculates how GMS will use them to off-set depletions accrued by previous and forcasted well pumping.

Has GMS always determined the quota?

This is the first year that we’ve determined the quota in-house. This creates deeper involvement for GMS in the quota determination process, and saves money.

Is there a set cut-off date for determining the quota?

Central’s decree requires that a quota be set by April 15 of each year.

When do you start to work on next year’s quota?

We always update the projection tool- it’s a year round process. In Fall and Winter we start to see what the water portfolio for the next year will look like, and work with other entities to obtain supplemental water leases.


Why can we have a very wet year, but not a very high quota?

The Court Decree requires that Central have augmentation water supplies for the next seven years. One wet year generally does not provide water for the future years in the projection. The decree requirements forces GMS to be conservative in quota estimates to protect senior water rights during future droughts.


This is the first year for you working on the quota, what has the experience been like?

After working on it I realized how it will help me do my daily accounting. It has helped me understand how the quota is determined, so now I’m using it to plan the method of water replacements for each month. The process has gone well this year, and we’re going to be internally calculating the quota from now on.