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RGDSS and CWCB <br />The development of Colorado's Decision Support System (CDSS), including RGDSS, is <br />sponsored by the CWCB and the Colorado Division of Water Resources under the overall <br />guidance of the Department of Natural Resources. In addition to their sponsorship and having ; <br />management role in RGDSS development, CWCB staff are actively involved in using CDSS to <br />assist in their planning and administrative programs. For example, CWCB uses of CDSS in the <br />Colorado River Basin have included evaluations of future scenarios for the recovery of the <br />endangered fishes. <br />One of the needs identified during the RGDSS Feasibility Study was maintenance of minimum <br />flows in the Rio Grande with minimal effects on other users. As such, instream flow water rights <br />will be represented in the surface water model developed for the Rio Grande and its tributaries in <br />order to allow evaluation of the impacts of these rights on future scenarios. <br />Instream Flow Rights in the Rio Grande Basin <br />The CWCB is the owner of 212 instream flow water rights in Colorado's Water Division 3. <br />Many of these rights are located on small tributaries and headwater streams, although there are <br />several rights located on larger rivers such as the Rio Grande and the Conejos. The amounts of <br />these rights often vary by season to reflect the natural hydrologic regime of the rivers and <br />streams. <br />Attachment 1 is a listing of instream flow rights in Division 3. This listing was provided by the <br />CWCB and is current as of January 1996. The information was extracted from CWCB's instream <br />flow database, which is periodically updated to reflect new water right filings. A subset <br />(approximately 28) of these rights will be explicitly represented in the Rio Grande surface water <br />modeling efforts. Some instream flows will not be represented in the modeling, because the <br />tributaries on which they are located are not being modeled. These minor tributaries are not <br />being represented, because they do not contain any other key water resource structures. <br />Comments and Concerns <br />None <br />Attachments <br />1. Instream Flow Rights in the Rio Grande Basin (Colorado Water Division 3) <br />C:Acdss\CWCB.doc CWCB Interview August 24, 1999- Page 2 of 2 <br />