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The Mountain Mail Newspaper, Salida Colorado I Water board agrees to RICD Page 1 of2 p~l{!lr a <0 ClJ.ISE Friday, April 14, 2006 Water board agrees to RICO Friday, April 14, 2006 The Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District directors voted unanimously Thursday to approve a memorandum of understanding in connection with the Chaffee County application for a recreational iin channel diversion water right. Of 12 entities involved in the agreement, only the water district and Colorado Springs Utilities hadn't yet agreed to it. Both agreed Thursday, paving the way for an unopposed run through water court. "We are real pleased," Chaffee County Commissioner Jerry Mallett told The Mountain Mail after the meeting. "We did a lot of work. (UAWCD water attorney) Julianne (Wold ridge) did a good job." The water right will ensure as much as 1,800 cubic feet of water per second flows through boating parks in Salida and Buena Vista during the height of whitewater season. The agreement has been the subject of months of negotiations and had been considered by the district board of directors since January. Woldridge negotiated on behalf of Upper Ark directors up until Thursday morning. Approval was conditional upon Woldridge reaching final agreement with the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District related to evaporation from Pueblo Reservoir. The agreement focuses not so much on the decree in the RICD, but on how parties will relate to the voluntary flow program which provided adequate flow for recreation and fish spawning for 15 years. Wold ridge negotiated language into the agreement allowing the district to maintain its ability to operate exchanges in a way that detracts from flow program flows when absolutely necessary to save water or meet its commitments. It can also manage future water rights in the same way. Chaffee County agreed to yield its RICD decree to future exchanges by some entities in the agreement. The district retained the right to object to these future exchange cases, some of which have already been filed. Wold ridge assured directors the agreement protects the ability of the district to manage its water. "We have been banging our heads against the wall trying to get this done," Woldridge told the board. "( do believe we have reached a point in the negotiations where staff would recommend this." The recreational diversion application caused everyone who owns and moves water in the river to reevaluate their participation in the flow program, Frank McNulty of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, said. The department administers the program. That, in part, made the memorandum of understanding necessary. http://www.themountainmai1.comlprint.asp? Artic1eID=773 7 &SectionID=;4&SubSectionID... 4/17/2006 1.,,,,..:;.d;:;'-;~'.........