09 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 9/18/2007
• Description: ISF Section - Application of St. Vrain & Left Hand Water Conservancy District ‎(Case No. 1-02CW334)‎ - Pretrial Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

- 2 -

l-87CW283
l-78W9379
l-86CW30 1
l-86CW342

South St. Vrain Creek
J ames Creek
Left Hand Creek
Left Hand Creek

various (4, 12,20)
4
1
various (3, 7, 14)

12/11/1987
7/11/1978
9/5/1986
9/5/1986

The District's proposed plan includes more than two hundred existing small water users whose out-
of-priority diversions have historically been difficult to administer and, thus, whose depletions have
not been replaced. The District's sources of augmentation water for the plan include (1) storage
releases from Copeland Reservoir (to North St. Vrain Creek); Coffintop Reservoir (to South St.
Vrain Creek); Beaver Park Reservoir (to Beaver Creek and South St. Vrain Creek below the
confluence with Beaver Creek); and Rock'n WP Ranch Lake No.4 (to St. Vrain Creek); and (2)
historical consumptive use credits associated with 80 shares of the St. Vrain Fish & Reservoir
Company (releases from Beaver Park Reservoir) and 95 shares of the Left Hand Ditch Company (to
James Creek, Left Hand Creek and South St. Vrain Creek) The District seeks changes of use of a
number of water rights in order to provide the augmentation credits necessary to replace those out-
of-priority stream depletions. Because the District does not have access to an upstream source of
replacement water on Middle St. Vrain Creek, Left Hand Creek or James Creek, the proposed plan
for augmentation would not replace out-of-priority depletions on those creeks..

The District's Efforts to Obtain AU2:illentation Water

At the inception of this plan (in the 1990s), the District discovered that there is only one source of
water located tributary to Middle St. Vrain Creek above the location of the District's augmentation
plan depletions. The sole source is Red Deer Lake, a/k/a Green Reservoir, which is owned by the
Town of Mead. It is located in the Indian Peaks Wildemess Area at close to 11,000 feet elevation.
Access to the lake is via a 5+ mile foot or horse trail. The lake's season of operation is
approximately June through September, at which time there is little potential for injury to the Middle
St. Vrain ISF water right (discussed below). Also, the CWCB holds a natural lake level water right
on the lake. Finally, the lake's dam is in need of major repair and such repair would be exceedingly
difficult, if not impossible, in the wilderness area. For these reasons, the District concluded that Red
Deer Lake was not a viable source of augmentation water.

Middle St. Vrain Creek

Based on the current augmentation plan membership, the total depletions in the Middle St. Vrain
Creek basin are 19.52 acre-feet per year. The table below provides the average daily depletions by
month of the District's augmentation plan members affecting the Middle St. Vrain ISF reach from
Peaceful Valley to the confluence with South St. Vrain Creek.

Flood Protection. Water Project Planning and Finance. Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation Planning