Arkansas - Rotational Land Fallowing - Water Leasing Program_Application

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Form Revised May 2007 water rights out of the Lower Valley for so long as they are receiving the benefits of water leased from the program. Municipalities or other Water Users would not, however, be expected to forgo the purchase of irrigation water rights while the program is operating, although they would be asked to make those water rights available for lease through the program -- just like any other irrigation water right owner -- so that every water owner would be treated alike. Some Municipalities and other Water Users have voluntarily entered into intergovernmental agreements ("IGAs") that address, among other things, the use and transfer of irrigation water rights for municipal purposes. Other agreements concern flows below Pueblo Reservoir. The Rotational Land Fallowing- Water Leasing program would necessarily operate within the confines of such agreements for so long as they are in effect. E. The Linking of Participating Irrigators to Municipalities and other Water Users: The Lower Arkansas Valley Super Ditch Company will negotiate Leases with Municipalities and other Water Users who want to secure the use of irrigation water. By working on behalf of Participating Irrigators throughout the Lower Valley, the Lower Arkansas Valley Super Ditch Company will maximize the amount of water that can be leased to Municipal and other users. Cooperative negotiations are also expected to increase the value that Participating Irrigators receive for their leases. The Lower Arkansas Valley Super Ditch Company will lease ditch company shares from Participating Irrigators taking into account their varying "yields" as determined by the ditch companies' water rights priorities and historic consumptive usc. Shares in different ditch companies will lease for different amounts beeause of varying yields; more reliable shares, such as those that were not called in 2002, fetching a higher price than less reliable shares. F. The "Leases": The methods by which Patticipating Irrigators' water rights will be made available to Municipalities and other Water Users may take various forms, including long-term leases, interruptible water supply agreements, and water banking, as the Lower Arkansas Valley Super Ditch Company determines from time to time, in consultation with Participating Irrigators and Municipalities and other Water Users, best accomplishes the goal of maximizing the value of the Lower Valley's water. The leases will be written on uniform forms to facilitate the sale and transfer of the underlying ditch company shares, but the leases will take into account the varying yields of the each ditch company's shares. Engineers and lawyers engaged by the Lower Arkansas Valley Super Ditch Company will deal with the processes of determining the yield of shares offered for lease and securing the necessary changes in use from the State Engineer and/or Colorado Water Court. The Leases will be for specific terms of years, and binding upon both the irrigator-lessors and the municipal/water user-lessees. The Leases will constitute a legal encumbrance upon the ditch company shares leased by the irrigators to the Super Ditch Company, and constitute a continuing obligation of the owner, assignor, or successor of the ditch company shares. In this manner, the Super Ditch Company will be to provide certainty of supply to the user Undoubtedly, there will be a variety of lease terms necessary to meet the differing needs of Participating Irrigators and Municipalities and other Water Users, but it is expected that leases will run for as long as 40 years with a right of renewal, the common term for Bureau of Reclamation leases. Municipalities have demonstrated their comfort with such lease periods to supply their long-term needs through innumerable contracts with the Bureau of Reclamation. It should also be noted that it is impossible to predict at this time whether climate change, domestic energy demands, and/or agricultural economics 7