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(,'"',, .'. . . W ater Ri~hts It is estimated that the MVIC shares to be purchased for the project will yield about 6,000 acre-feet per year. The MVIC water is available due to urban development in the area and the expanded use of sprinkler irrigation. The water rights held by MVIC are some of the most senior in tl}e Dolores Basin. Other sources such as McPhee spills and Totten Reservoir will provide the remaining 1,840 acre feet. Diversions from the Dolores River will be essentially unchanged from the amount diverted for the last 110 years with the exception of about the last ten years. The CWCB has an I:lstream flow water right of78 cubic feet per second, with a 1975 priority, from below McPhee Dam to the confluence of the Dolores and San Miguel rivers, The CWCB water right is junior to both the MVIC and McPhee water rights. Most of the water for the instream flow originates from a fishery pool of about 29,000 acre-feet in McPhee Reservoir. The proposed irrigation project will not injure the CWCB water right since water for the instream flow originates in the fishery pool which ....vill continue to provide water as it has in t...1e past. Environmental Assessment and Permitting A carriage contract with the USBR is required for the use of USBR facilities to deliver water for the proposed project. The Grand Junction Office of the USBR is preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the carriage contract decision by the Bureau. A draft of the EA was issued in July 2000 and the USBR is awaiting a Biological OpL.-tion from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to conclude the EA process. With regard to fish and wildlife resources, the draft EA concludes: "The proposed Carriage Agreement should have little effect on fish and wildlife resources. The water involved was historically used for irrigation. Over the last several years the water has either been spilled from McPhee Reservoir or directed down McElmo Creek. The water is private water and not available for the McPhee reservoir downstream fishery pool." For depletions in the Colorado River Basin the draft EA states: "In conclusion, the Carriage Contract would continue the historic depletion of 6- 8,000 acre-feet from the Dolores River. Based on these conclusions and consistent: with regulations in SO CFR 402.13, the Carriage Agreement may affect endangered fish species and their critical habitat in the Colorado River and the depletions are addressed by existing agreements under the (Recovery Implementation Program]," ... J