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<br />() II IJ (5 ;) 8 <br /> <br />into the "Clinton Reservoir - Fraser River - Water Agreement" (Clinton Agreement) to further <br />provide additional water supplies for Summit imd Grand C;ounties. One of the effects of this new <br />agreement was the "downsizing" of the original Summit County Agreement, as will be discussed <br />below. Although the agreement was not in effect during the CRDSS study period, it has a <br />significant role in the future operations of the upper Blue River and upper Fraser River basins. As <br />such, additional discussion of the Clinton Agreement is warranted. <br /> <br />Pursuant to the Clinton Agreement, Denver agreed to "operate" its Dillon Reservoir and <br />Roberts Tunnel water rights so as to allow Clinton Reservoir to store up to 3,650 acre-feet each <br />year, during the period August 1 through July 31. Engineering studies indicated that the maximum <br />fill of 3,650 acre-feet will produce a reliable, "firm" annual yield of about 1,200 acre-feet. This <br />"Reservoir Yield" is tl1en-used to repay Denver for the consumptive use attributable to snowmaking <br />at the ski areas and other beneficial uses, including augmentation. Denver will allow the Summit <br />County Ski areas (Breckenridge, Keystone and Copper Mountain) to divert water for snowmaking <br />and will correspondingly release water from Williams Fork Reservoir in amounts and at times <br />required to augment the snowmaking diversions, bv exchanae. The amount of snowmaking <br />diversions cannot exceed five times the amount of Reservoir Yield in Clinton Reservoir to which <br />the ski areas are entitled. Denver reserved the right and claim to all return flows from <br />snowmaking. The snowmaking consumptive use is estimated at 20% of the total diversion and <br />is credited to Denver's account in Clinton Reservoir as the exchange occurs. <br /> <br />The Agreement also provides water for snowmaking at the Winter Park Ski Area in Grand <br />County under a similar repayment scheme. Here, Denver agreed to diversions by Winter Park from <br />its Fraser River Collection System and Winter Park agreed to credit Denver's account in Clinton <br />Reservoir in an amount equal to the consumptive use of snowmaking (20% of the snowmaking <br />diversions). To the extent that return flows from snow!T1aking at Winter Park do not return above <br />Denver's collection system, Winter Park is obligated to credit Denver's Clinton account at a rate <br />of one acre-foot for each acre-foot which cannot be recaptured. <br /> <br />Denver cannot exchange water from Williams Fork Reservoir to the Summit County Ski <br />Areas at any time when the "Computed Natural Inflow" to Dillon Reservoir is less than 50 cfs. <br />In years when Denver has water in the "1,000 Acre-Foot Pool" (see above), water in this pool can <br />be released from Dillon Reservoir and used to supplement the Computed Natural Inflow and <br />accordingly, allow upstream municipal diversions and exchanges for snowmaking to occur. If <br />insufficient water is available in the pool, Denver will not make the exchanges. Sufficient water <br />is considered to be available only to the extent that storage in the 1,000 Acre-Foot Pool exceeds <br />the following minimum values: <br /> <br />October 1 - January 31 <br />February 1 - February, 28 <br />March 1 - March 7 <br /> <br />188 acre-feet <br />135 acre-feet <br />113 acre-feet <br /> <br />Key to the Clinton Agreement were amendments to the Summit County Agreement such <br />that: (1) The M & I consumptive use limitation in the latter was reduced from 1,750 acre-feet to <br />1,151.6 acre-feet and (2) The total diversion under the Summit County Agreement was reduced <br />from 3,100 acre-feet to 1,217.8 acre-feet. This "downsizing" was accomplished by Breckenridge, <br />Copper Mountain and Keystone agreeing to reduce their entitlements under the original agreement <br />by 1,882.2 acre-feet. This downsizing left 1,168 acre-feet of consumptive use water available <br /> <br />0-12 <br />