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6 ... Guniii~on Country Tirries Thursday, September 25, 2003, , __ .__.___L___...._. _~ ,_ __..__ ________ .._ _ __.__ State plays water diversion card at R Alan Wartes. version and is allQwed by rela- tively new Coiorado legislation. It is hard t.o imagine sus-. . The law requires the Colorado pense and intrigue in a hearing Water Conservation Board to re- over water rights for recre- . view such applications and make ational boatirig on. the Gunni-. recommendations to the water son River. Yet, for four and a court pr~or to adjudication of the half days last week, arguments right. Las,t spring,. the CWCB in the trial demonstrated where' met in Gunnison and voted to water is mosllikely to be found recommend a flow of only 270 in the Wes.t: at the cente.r of ds. Later the. board 'voted to for- controversy. malIy oppose the application. At issue. this time is the recent . Argume:i:J.ts presented by attor- Upper Gunnison River Water neys fqr the" CWCB in nearly a Conservancy.District application week of testimony centered on fot the right to keep 1,500 cubic- one issue: tnepotential for the feet per second flowing at the. RICD right to damage the s.late's Gunnison Whilewater Park dur- ability to build a trans-mountain ing the. peak of the runoff se~- diversion project in the Upper son. Th~ .application requested. Gunnison basin. smaller amounts in early sum~ ""We thought iherewould be a mer and fall.. .the right is called. lot more energy spent on the ap- aRecreationaI II;l-Channel Di- plication itself, and whethe~ the flows we asked for were appro- priate,>> said UGRWCD manager Kathleen Curry. "But it" was all about the (RICO's) impact on upst"ream development of wate.r. for out of basin uses." Governor Owens has stated publicly that he will not approve any trans-rriounthin. diversion proiect in the Gunnison Basin'. The director of. die Colorado Department. . .of . Natural Resources, Greg Walther..who oversees the CWCB, has publicly echoed the governor's Claim. . "It certainly gives me pause,>> said Cu.rry. "It is vel;'y .unclear why the governor and Walc;her are making these public state- . ments and thel11he "CWCB pulls out all the stops to oppose the RICD on the .grounds that it pre- vents diversion," . Iri. an interview'on Tuesday, Walcher said he was unaware of . the strategy the'state's lawyers, elected to pursue in the case.. "Different people in s.tate gov~ eniment have different views," . he said. "Thcit.is not a Vosition I was aware of, and not. one. r would have approved of if! had been made aware of it." . In patticular,llie state's attor- neys pointed to the Taylor Park Project identified in the 1989. Phase One study done on water demand and s~pply issiles in the.. Gunnison Basin. That proposal would inV"olve a complicated ex-~ change or purchase of Taylor . Reservoir water from current . owners. The watii" wo~ld thbi . become available for diversioIt to the Front Range. < . "They put aU their. cards on