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<br />Green Mountain Historic Users Pool and the Orchard Mesa Check Case Settlement <br /> <br />Backeround and Authoritv <br /> <br />The Orchard Mesa Check (Check) is a structure below the common afterbay of the Orchard Mesa <br />Irrigation District (OMID) Pumping Plant and the federal Grand Valley Power Plant in the Grand <br />Valley of Colorado. The operation of the Check provides the ability to raise the water level in <br />the common afterbay to a level, which causes water to flow through the bypass channel and <br />return to the Colorado River upstream of the Grand Valley Irrigation Company (GVIC) diversion <br />dam. <br /> <br />Operation of the Check was determined to constitute an 'exchange' of water whereby water <br />destined for the senior GVIC irrigation water rights is borrowed for pumping and hydroelectric <br />power generation purposes and returned to GVIC for irrigation use. Operation of the Check <br />influences the supply of water available to Grand Valley irrigation systems; to the Grand Valley <br />Power Plant for power production; Green Mountain Reservoir releases; and the flow in the 15- <br />Mile Reach of the Colorado River. The 15-Mile Reach is that section of the Colorado River <br />from the GVIC diversion dam to the confluence of the Gunnison River and has been designated <br />critical habitat by the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. <br /> <br />The Check had been operated on an informal basis without a decreed right since approximately <br />1926 to manage flows in the Colorado River for the benefit of the United States, Grand Valley <br />Water Users Association (GVWUA), and OMID (Co-applicants). In the late 1980's, a <br />hydropower development was proposed in a reach of the Colorado River between the Grand <br />Valley Diversion Dam, the point where the exchange water is diverted, and the GVIC diversion <br />dam where the exchange water is returned. Additionally, there was concern that instream flow <br />rights for the endangered fish would be filed for the reach between the Grand Valley Diversion <br />Dam and the GVIC diversion. The Co-applicants were concerned that water rights awarded for <br />these purposes would have the ability to interfere with the exchange of water. In response to this <br />potential threat to the continued operation of the exchange, the Co-applicants filed an application <br />in State Water Court on December 30, 1991, for approval of an exchange of water. This case <br />(Water Division 5, Case No. 91CW247) was informally known as the Orchard Mesa Check <br />Case. Resolution of the case resulted in a negotiated Stipulation and Agreement entered into the <br />District Court, Water Division No.5, State of Colorado, on September 4, 1996. <br /> <br />Overview of the Stipulated Settlement <br /> <br />The settlement contains two major components: the Stipulation and Agreement and the Green <br />Mountain Reservoir Historic Users Pool Operating Criteria (Operating Criteria). The Operating <br />Criteria further defines operation of the Green Mountain Reservoir Historic Users Pool (HUP) <br />consistent with Senate Document 80 and the 1984 Operating Policy. The parts of the Stipulation <br />and Agreement pertinent to the operation of the HUP are summarized below: <br /> <br />As part of the Stipulation and Agreement the Co-applicants and GVIC agree not to exercise their <br /> <br />23 <br />