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~ ,~ 1 ,I ) rnorl .~ ller, ~ October 1, 1994 kansa Coordinating Committee Members '. ~ 19)481-2003) x 567, Palmer Lake, CO 80133 RE: ED SOLUTION FOR . COLORADO LAWSUIT The vast unused spring runoff of the Upper Gunnison Basin is Colorado's water ace-in-the-hole for the 21st Century. Some of these currently wasted compact waters can be readily stored in the proposed off-river Union Park Reservoir site during wet years. These'saved waters will then be available' for low-cost gravity augmentation of Colorado's four major river environments during the damaging drought cycles. This unprecedented Gunnison water conservation project is ideal for resolving the Kansas Lawsuit. It will also satisfy most of Colorado's future drought and growth needs on both slopes. The multiple reuse flows from high altitude Gunnison storage will concurrently protect endangered fish and birds on the Colorado and South Platte Rivers. The declining ground waters in Eastern Colorado can also be saved with renewable reuse flows from Colorado's wettest untapped water source. Upper Gunnison water users currently consume less than 5% of the average million acre feet that flows through the Aspinall Unit to down river states. Federal and state data show Upper Gunnison water consumption is steadilY declining, because of the 30% drop in irrigated acreage over the last 30 years. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Gunnison -- Arkansas Studies indicate the Upper Gunnison could divert up to 450,000 acre feet to the oversubscribed Arkansas and South Platte River Basins, without interfering with Gunnison needs. In fact, about half of the one million acre feet of Union Park storage would be used to guarantee more water for Gunnison farms, cities, fish, recreation, power, etc., than is now available during long droughts. Incredibly, Colorado's senior natural resource staff is apposing the beneficial use of Colorado's most valuable undeveloped Colorado River Compact waters from the Gunnison in Colorado Supreme Court. A statewide evaluation of the high environmental and economic cost of this lost development opportunity has never been conducted. An urgent April 27, 1994 request to reverse state opposition to Union Park was not answered or referred to the appointed Colorado Water Conservation Board members before the critical May 24, 1994 oral arguments in Colorado Supreme Court. CWCB's unprecedented legal brief against Union Park in this landmark lies tern case is now sending a clear message to feds and down-river states that Colorado is not capable of developing its entitled interstate compact waters, because of interbasin gridlock. The state's opposition to high altitude Gunnison storage must be reversed to protect Colorado's water future. This memorandum is offered in response to Governor Romer's public request for ideas to resolve the Kansas Lawsuit problem.