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<br />Green Mountain Historic Users Pool and the Orchard Mesa Check Case <br />Settlement <br /> <br />Back!!round 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 the <br />common afterbay to a level, which causes water to flow through the bypass channel and return to <br />the Colorado River upstream of the Grand Valley Irrigation Company (GVIC) diversion dam. <br /> <br />Operation of the Check was determined to constitute an 'exchange' of water whereby water destined <br />for the senior GVIC irrigation water rights is borrowed for pumping and hydroelectric power <br />generation purposes and returned to GVIC for irrigation use. Operation of the Check influences the <br />supply of water available to Grand Valley irrigation systems; to the Grand Valley Power Plant for <br />power production; Green Mountain Reservoir releases; and the flow in the 15-Mile Reach of the <br />Colorado River. The 15-Mile Reach is that section of the Colorado River from the GVIC diversion <br />dam to the confluence of the Gunnison River and has been designated critical habitat by the Upper <br />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 hydropower <br />development was proposed in a reach of the Colorado River between the Grand Valley Diversion <br />Dam, the point where the exchange water is diverted, and the GVIC diversion dam where the <br />exchange water is returned. Additionally, there was concern that instream flow rights for the <br />endangered fish would be filed for the reach between the Grand Valley Diversion Dam and the <br />GVIC diversion. The Co-applicants were concerned that water rights awarded for these purposes <br />would have the ability to interfere with the exchange of water. In response to this potential threat to <br />the continued operation of the exchange, the Co-applicants filed an application in State Water Court <br />on December 30, 1991, for approval of an exchange of water. This case (Water Division 5, Case <br />No. 91CW247) was informally known as the Orchard Mesa Check Case. Resolution of the case <br />resulted in a negotiated Stipulation and Agreement entered into the District Court, Water Division <br />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 />irrigation rights against any upstream HUP beneficiary provided that; the Check is physically <br /> <br />23 <br />