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<br />In addition, the Settlement provided for delivering surplus HUP water to the Grand Valley Power <br />Plant and to other beneficial uses in western Colorado that would result in augmenting flows in <br />the 15 Mile Reach. The Check Settlement also established a group of entities with whom <br />Reclamation consults in managing releases of surplus water from the HUP. The group of entities <br />and Reclamation are collectively known as the "HUP Managing Entities" and includes <br />representatives from the following organizations: <br /> <br />U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) <br />Grand V alley Water Users Association (GVWUA) <br />Orchard Mesa Irrigation District (aMID) <br />Grand Valley Irrigation Company (GVIC) <br />Colorado Division of Water Resources, Division 5 <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) <br />U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) <br /> <br />In addition to surplus HUP water from Green Mountain Reservoir, the 5,000 plus 5,000 acre-feet <br />from Ruedi Reservoir, and the 3,000 acre-feet from Wolford Mountain Reservoir, the following <br />additional sources of water became available to assist in augmenting 15 Mile Reach flows for the <br />endangered fish: <br /> <br />In 1998 and 1999 Reclamation made 21,650 acre-feet of water available from the regulatory <br />capacity ofRuedi Reservoir through one-year lease agreements with the Service and CWCB. <br />The Recovery Program agreed to reimburse Reclamation for the operation, maintenance and <br />replacement costs for the 21,650 acre-feet of water. These costs totaled $61,919 in 1998, and <br />$64,274 in 1999. <br /> <br />On January 20, 1998, the Service completed a new biological opinion with the River District on <br />Wolford Mountain Reservoir which made an additional 3,000 acre-feet of storage capacity <br />available to the Service for flow augmentation in the Reach. The additional capacity was made <br />available when the District recalculated flood parameters at the reservoir and increased the size <br />of the active storage pool. <br /> <br />Beginning in 1998 and again in 1999, the HUP Managing Entities implemented a program of <br />managing releases of surplus water from the HUP. Based upon experience gained in 1994, the <br />Managing Entities recognized that a greater benefit could be gained by coordinating the HUP <br />releases with the releases for endangered fish from Ruedi and Wolford Mountain reservoirs. The <br />settlement of the Check case provides for regular meetings or conference calls to assess the <br />condition of the HUP surplus and determine surplus releases, The River District was invited to <br />join the effort so that releases for endangered fish from Wolford could be coordinated with those <br />from Ruedi and any surplus from the Green Mountain HUP. <br /> <br />In the fall of 1999, Denver Water and the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District both <br />had excess water stored in their reservoirs that needed to be released before winter, They <br />coordinated their releases from Dillon, Williams Fork, Granby, and Willow Creek Reservoirs <br />with those from Ruedi, Wolford, and the Green Mountain HUP. <br /> <br />A-3 <br />