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<br />}'e8I'S where everyone was pulling water as quickly as possible because there were no provisions in effect. Due to this <br />common pool concept they ran it Wltil it was gone. That rush to evacuate the reservoir will be changed, as I will discuss <br />later. when I describe how the present 1980 Operating Plan works. <br /> <br />.. <br /> <br />Article V set out rates of delivery at different times depending on the amounts of water. If there was more than 20.000 <br />acre feet in storage they could release at a rate of 1.250 second feet; if ther~ was less. releases were cut back to 1.000 <br />second feeL This article also prevented any call from coming upstream through the reservoir against ditches with junior <br />water rights if there was water in the conservation pool. There were no credits or debits. as I previously mentioned. In <br />the event that the reservoir was going to be drained, the Compact Administration must notify the State Engineer 14 days <br />prior to the anticipated date of the reservoir being drained. Once the reservoir was drained the call was then passed <br />through upstream. When the conservation pool was empty. Colorado operated on its priority system and Kansas was <br />allowed to use any waters that may cross the stateline but was not entitled to demand any water. <br /> <br />One of the other important aspects is that they didn't allow the transferring of water rights out of Water District 67 if it <br />was going to place a burden on other users by changing the consumption. Article VI of the Compact basically sets up <br />the jurisdiction. It states nothing in this Compact should be construed as impairing jurisdiction of Kansas over the water <br />users of the Arkansas River that originate in Kansas. and nothing in the Compact should be construed as supplanting the <br />administration by Colorado of the rights of appropriators of water in the Arkansas River in the state as decreed by the <br />Colorado courts. They made provisions for the Frontier Canal which starts in Colorado and actually serves Kansas. <br />which is to be counted as part of the stateline flow. They set forth that each state. and every water user claiming a right <br />to use water through the state. was subject to the Compact. <br /> <br />In Article VII a Compact Administration was set up whereby each state appoints three representatives. In Colorado there <br />is one representative from Colorado' s Upper Basin (Districts 14 and 17, which are above the John Martin Reservoir), <br />one representative from Water District 67 (below John Martin Reservoir), and the Director of the Water Consecvation <br />Board who serves as the State of Colorado' s representative. Kansas has a similar situation with their appointees. Each <br />state gets one vote. There is a federal representative that sits on the Compact Administration, currently Larry Trujillo. <br />He chairs the Administration but has no vote. Decisions have to be made by unanimous consent of the two states. <br /> <br />Perhaps this has become kind of dry. but let me go back over it and m try to paraphrase it a little biL We had the <br />compact signed in 1949 that set up criteria for John Martin Reservoir. The conservation pool in John Martin Reservoir <br />apportioned release of those waters 40 - 60. You could call the water out individually either by state or together. <br />Everybody was taking their water out at the same time, only limited by Compact-specified rates on how fast )OU could <br />deliver the water out of the reservoir. Once the water was out of the conservation pool then we went back to the normal <br />priority administration of the Arkansas River in Colorado with Kansas obtaining the retwll flows that were at the <br />stateline. <br /> <br />In 1980 the Compact Administration, with the efforts of many others (because of drainage of the reservoir), developed a <br />refinement to Article V -D which would allow an operating plan where they could save water until it was really needed. <br />They could call for release of water as needed, and carry water over and utilize it a little more efficiently. Basically. the <br />operating plan sets up an accoWlting system for the water that goes into John Martin Reservoir. It allows the ditches <br />below John Martin Reservoir to have a pro-rata share of storage volwnes and now also allows some of the ditches above <br />John Martin Reservoir to store some winter water in accoWlts. It provides for a transit loss accoWlt with water reserved <br />to carry deliveries to the stateline and into Kansas. Since 1980 it has improved the operations of the reservoir quite a <br />biL Both states agree with this and there is a continuing resolution of the Compact Administration to operate under the <br />1980 plan. A lot of hard work from people in the Arkansas Basin went into iL They looked for ways to become more <br />efficient and tried to utilize the resources that we had available. ' <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />In summary there has been almost a hundred years oflitigation over the Arkansas River. Each era had its own type of <br />debate and what caused controversy and litigation varied depending on the facts of the time. This is a period in which <br />we should be moving toward mutual cooperation on the Compact, trying to look for solutions. Hopefully we can move <br />forward toward the reduction of conflict and a better understanding on the river, to new opportunities for solutions to old <br /> <br />Arkansas River Basin Water Forum <br /> <br />11 <br /> <br />"A River of Dreams and Realities" <br /> <br />