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The compact benchmark for the White River in Colorado as shown on Table 4 above is l45,OOO acre-feet. As shown in · Table 8, this is a middle to optimistic scenario. According to the Colorado DNR data, existing depletions on the White River in Colorado amount to 43,000 acre-feet per year (also shown on Table 4). This leaves only about lOO,OOO acre-feet per year of consumptive use for all new water devel- opments on the White River, before such developments will start to impinge: l) on water developments on another tribu- tary in Colorado; 2) on another Upper Basin state's Compact entitlement; or 3) on the assumed Lower Basin delivery obli- gation. Presently there are about 30 major water supply pro- jects planned for the White River in Colorado, whose water right claims amount to almost 7,000 csf of direct flow rights, and almost 2,000,000 acre-feet of storage. (See Appendix 2.) A number of these claims are mutually exclu- sive, but even after some cancelling out, it is clear that only a handful of these projects can be developed without requiring some sort of interstate or intertributary compact accommodation. Table 9 below shows how quickly this White River compact benchmark can be reached. This benchmark is reached with the development of just the first four, major conditional water rights filings. This means that multitude of filings and water development plans on the White River with water rights priorities which are junior to these first four filings can only be developed in peril of compact constraints. The potential depletions associated with the development of these first four filings are rough quesses, may be less than the decreed amounts of the water rights, and may be low. The potential depletions associated with the Yellow Jacket Project, for example, have been estimated by some to be as high as 100,000 acre-feet instead of about 50,000. Such a project alignment would push even the rather senior Yellow Jacket filings over the benchmark. Table 9 - MAJOR, MOST SENIOR CONDITIONAL WATER RIGHTS ON THE WHITE RIVER IN COLORADO (IN ORDER OF PRIORITY) Project/Structure 1. Stillwater Project 2. Rangely Water Plant 3. Oakridge Park Ditch 4. Yellow Jacket . Project s. ROM POCO Project Claimant Potential Depletions (af/yr) ,'-{ ,. 25,000 Exxon Town of Rangely 15,000 Seely, et ale 25,000 Yellow Jacket Water Conservancy District 50,000 Gulf/Standard 100,000 Total 215,000 -38-