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RGDSS Memorandum <br />Final <br />TO: Ray Bennett <br />FROM: Ed Armbruster, Hydrosphere <br />SUBJECT: RGDSS Surface Water, Task 4.5 -Rio Grande Water Users Association <br />Interview <br />DATE: June 21, 1999 <br />CC: Randy Seaholm <br />Introduction <br />This memorandum represents partial delivery (1 of 3 interviews) associated with Task 4.5, Water <br />Agency Interviews /Prepare Summary Memoranda. The objective of this task is as follows: <br />Meet with representatives of the principal water-user agencies and groups in the Basin to <br />obtain an understanding of agency missions and specific water management and <br />operations activities and water rights having important administrative implications. <br />On February 25, 1999, an interview was conducted with Mr. Bill Kopfinan, the then President of <br />the Rio Grande Water Users Association ("RGWUA" or "Association"). The purpose of this <br />interview was to develop a better understanding of the Association's operations and <br />responsibilities so that this information could be reflected in surface water modeling efforts <br />associated with the Rio Grande Decision Support System ("RGDSS"). Follow-up discussions <br />and additional information were provided by Bill Paddock, attorney for the Association. <br />Organization <br />The Rio Grande Water Users Association was formed in 1927 to represent water users in former <br />Water District No. 20. (Note the designation of Water Districts within the State was repealed by <br />the legislature in 1969 although they continue to be used without revision by the State Engineer <br />for administrative purposes). Former Water District No. 20 includes the mainstem of the Rio <br />Grande and all of its tributaries except the Conejos River, Trinchera Creek, and Culebra Creek It <br />extends north into the Closed Basin to an east-west line roughly parallel to LaGarita Creek just <br />north of the Town of Center and terminates on a north-south line following generally the <br />alignment of San Luis Creek south to the Rio Grande. This area in the Closed Basin includes <br />much, but not all of the irrigated land served by the ditches diverting from the north side of the <br />Rio Grande. Former Water District No. 20 extends south of the Rio Grande encompassing all of <br />its tributaries above the mouth of the Conejos River at Las Sauces. <br />The members of the Association include most of the ditches on the Rio Grande, the owner of <br />Santa Maria and Continental Reservoirs, and the San Luis Valley Irrigation District, owner of the <br />Rio Grande Reservoir. A current list of the members is provided as Attachment A. The <br />members of the Association have senior direct flow water rights to some 3,750 c.f.s. and pre- <br />Compact storage of some 121,000 acre-feet. <br />C:Acdss\RGWUA3.doc Rio Grande Water Users Association Interview June 21, 1999 -Page 1 of 9 <br />