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WATER RIGHTS <br />Skyline Ditch has a decreed direct flow water ri ght for a total of 300.0 cfs from the West Branch <br />of the Laramie River. The ditc h was originally decreed for 400 cf s, with 242 cfs at its headgate <br />and 158 cfs from the tributaries crossing the line of the ditch. The decr eed capacity of Skyline <br />Ditch was modified to 300 cfs by the Supreme Co urt Decision in Wyoming v. Colorado in 1957. <br />There is no associated storage in the Larami e River basin. Per Case No. CA 1247, when not <br />needed by prior appropriators for immediate ir rigation, Water Supply and Storage Company has <br />the right to take and carry and st ore in its reservoirs Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 and in Chambers Lake, <br />water from said West branch of said Big Lara mie River and its tributaries to the amount of <br />500,000,000 cubic feet annually. Per the Supreme Court decision in Wyoming v. Colorado, the <br />total amount of water taken, carried, and stored in the system is further controlled by the Laramie <br />River Compact. Table 1 presents the detail s of the associated direct flow right. <br />Table 1 <br />a/ <br />Direct Flow Water Rights <br />Source Structure Appropriation Adjudication Decreed <br />Structure Name Use <br />ID Date Date Rate <br />West <br />Laramie River <br />Branch Irrigation <br />Ditch (aka 522 8/7/1891 10/30/1896 300.00 cfs <br />b/ <br />Laramie Storage <br />Skyline Ditch) <br />River <br />a/ <br />Colorado Water Rights Tabulation. <br />b/ <br />Use by Storage is not indicated in the water rights tabulation, however, it is included in the decree for Laramie <br />River Ditch (CA 1247). <br />Compact and Other Legal Considerations: <br />Skyline Ditch is one of five transmountain <br />diversion structures included in the La ramie River Compact between Colorado and <br />Wyoming. The 1957 Substitute Decree in Wyoming v. Colorado [353 U.S. 953 (1957)], <br />known as the Laramie River Decree or Laramie River Compact, permits Colorado to <br />divert 49,375 acre-feet per year from the Laramie River basin as follows: <br />1. 19,875 acre-feet per year may be diverted by Colorado for transmountain users. <br />Transmountain users include Water Supply and Storage Company (Laramie <br />Poudre Tunnel Diversion and Skyline Ditch), The Tunnel Water Company <br />(Laramie Poudre Tunnel Diversion and S kyline Ditch), The Divide Canal and <br />Reservoir Company (Deadman Ditch), and the City of Greeley (Bob Creek Ditch <br />and Columbine Ditch). Each of these di versions export water from the Laramie <br />River basin into Water District 3. <br />2. 29,500 acre-feet per year may be diverted by Colorado irrigators (called the <br />“meadow users”) for use within the basin (W ater District 48), of which not more <br />st <br />than 1,800 acre-feet can be diverted after July 31 of each year. <br />3. Any portion of the 19,875 acre-feet per ye ar not diverted by Colorado for use <br />outside the basin can be added to the 29,500 acre-feet per year permitted for use <br />within the basin. <br />4. All waters diverted by Colorado for use with in the basin are rest ricted to irrigation <br />use on the 4,845 acres designated by the court at the time of the decree. <br />Skyline.doc 6 of 9 <br />