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STATE OF COLORADO WATER DIVISION ONE OFFICE OF THE STATE ENGINEER Division of Water Resources Department of Natural Resources 810 9th Street, Suite 200 Greeley, Colorado 80631 Phone (970) 352-8712 Fax (970) 392-1816 Bill Owens Governor http://water.state.co.us/ Russell George Executive Director Hal D. Simpson,P.E. State Engineer July 27,2006 James R. Hall, P.E. Division One Engineer Re: South Platte Non-Irrigation Season Administration Dear Water User or Interested Party: I am writing this letter as a follow up to my May 3, 2006 letter and the public meeting concerning non-irrigation season administration held June 19, 2006. At the public meeting, I presented a PowerPoint presentation which discussed the preliminary decisions and open questions on non-irrigation season administration. I am very appreciative of the active, insightful participation we received at this meeting. Based on this and previous input, we have made the following administrative decisions effective for water year 2006-2007. The decisions set forth below are based upon the unique circumstances presented in Water Division 1 and unless or until the State Engineer decides otherwise are applicable only to Water Division 1. Out of Priority Storage Under 37-80-120 C.R.S. 37-80-120 C.RS. states "In every case in which the state engineer finds that water can be stored out of priority under circumstances such that the water so stored can be promptly made available to downstream senior storage appropriators in case they are unable to completely store their entire appropriative right due to insufficient water supply, the state engineer may permit such upstream storage out of priority, but such storage water shall be promptly released on demand of a downstream senior whenever needed by such senior for actual use". Prior to allowing any out of priority storage against any reservoir on the South Platte mainstem including Julesburg reservoir, our office will require that users submit a plan to our office at least 45 days prior to storing out of priority. We will post this plan on our Internet site http://www.water.state.co.us/. We will accept comments on the plan from water users if they believe they will be impacted. Any such comments must be received within 30 days of our posting of the proposed plan. At minimum, it appears a plan proposed by a user must take into account the following issues: . the commitment and capability to release out of priority water if directed by our office . recognition of potential additional replacement requirements associated with transit loss changes between the time the storage occurs and the release (for instance, transit loss on the South Platte may differ between November when the water is stored out of priority in the reservoir and April when it is released) . appropriate accounting (in Excel format) to keep track of the amount stored out of priority against each senior reservoir . requirements associated with the out of priority storage to assure that the senior reservoirs stored against have water available for "actual use" as required by 37-80-120 C.RS. (for instance, releases of 50 cfs for North Sterling would not be of use to North Sterling Irrigation District once the District was out of priority since diversions of 50 cfs at the North Sterling headgate would not reach the reservoir) . documentation that the user has forwarded their proposed plan to the senior users who they wish to store out of priority against. While not required by statute, we believe users who wish to take advantage of 37-80-120 C.RS. should attempt to reach agreement with those senior users. We hope