BOARDSEP03

• Board Meeting Date: 9/22/2003
• Description: Petition to Enforce the Provisions of the Blue River Decree
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Other

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000293

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COLORADO-BIG THOMPSON PROJECT

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heretofore listed. In addition thereto certain supplemental construc-
tion 'will be necessary. This will be for the primary purpose of pre;,
serving insofar as possi.ble the rights and interests. dependent on this
water, which exist 011 both slopes of the Continental Divide in Cola..,
rado. The project, therefore, must be operated in such a manner as
to most nearly effect the following ,primary purposes:
1. To preserve the vested and future rights in irrigation.
2. To preserve the fishing and recreational facilities and the scenic
attractions of Grand Lake, the Colorado River, and the Rocky
Mountain N e.tional Park.
3. To preserve the present surface elevations of the water in Grand
Lake and to prevent e. variation in these elevations greater than their
normal fluctuation. .
4. To so conserve and mllke use of these waters for irrigation, \
power, industrial dev:elopment, and other purposes, as to create the
greatest benefits. .
5. To maintain conditions of river flow for the benefit of domestic
and sanitary uses of this water. .
In order to accomplish these purposes the project should be operated
by an unprejudiced agency in a fair and efficient manner, equitable -\I
to ail parties having interests therein, and in conformity with tIle'
following particular stipulations:
(a) The Green Mountain Reservoir, or similar facilities, ~hall .be
constructed and maintained on the Colorado River above the present
site of the diversion dam of the Shoshone power plant, above Glen-
wood Springs, Colo., with a capacity of 152,000 acre-feet of water,
with a reasonable expectancy that it will fill annually. Of said capac-
ity, 52}000 acre-feet of water stored therein shall be available as re-
placement in western Colorado, of the water which would be usable
there if not withheld or diverted by said project; 100,000 acre-feet
shall be used for power purposes j and all of said stored waters shall
be released under the conditions and limitations hereinafter set forth.
(b) vVhenever the flow in the Colorado River at the present site of
said Shoshone diversion dam is less than 1,250 cubic feet per second,
there shall, upon demand of the authorized irrigation division engineer
or other State authority having charge of the distribution of the waters
of tills stream, be released from said reservoir as a part of said 52,000
acre-feet, the amount necessary with other waters available, to fill the
vested appropriations of water up to the amount concurrently being
diverted or withheld from such vested appropriations by the project
for diversion to the eastern slope. .
. (c) Said 100,000 acre-feet shall be stored primarily for power pur-
poses, and the water released shall be available, without charge, to
supply existing irrigation and domestic appropriations of water, in-
cluding the Grand Valley reclamation project, to supply all losses
chargeable in the delivery of said 52,000 acre-feet of water, and for
future use for domestic purposes and in the irrigation of lands there-
after to be brou&ht under cultivation in western Colorado.' It shan
be released withm the period from April 15 to October 15 of ench
year as required to supply a sufficient quantity to maintain the speci-
fied flow of 1,250 cubic feet per second of water at the present site
of said Shoshone diversion dam, provided this amount is not supplied
from the 52,000 acre-feet heretofore specified. Water not required l
for the above purposes shall also be available for disposal to agencies f
for the development of the shale oil or other industries.