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A portion of the Project 7 supply is delivered from the City of Montrose's 13 percent ownership interest <br />in the Cimarron Canal. During the irrigation season, this canal diverts water out of Cimarron Creek, a <br />tributary of the Gunnison River near Blue Mesa Reservoir, and delivers it to Montrose Reservoir near <br />Cerro Summit. Typically this right will yield from 500 to 1,800 acre-feet per year. Note that Montrose's <br />entitlement to Cimarron Creek water does not include storage releases from Silver Jack Reservoir, a <br />component of the Bostwick Park Project. The Cimarron rights are discussed in more detail in Task <br />Memorandum 1.15-19. <br />Ridgway Reservoir Exchange Agreement <br />TCWCD owns the water storage rights in Ridgway Reservoir, as described above. Each of the six water <br />users contract with the TCWCD for municipal and industrial water from the reservoir. In order for <br />Ridgway water to be deliverable to the Project 7 treatment facility, the TCWCD negotiated the Ridgway <br />Exchange Agreement (June 1991) with the UVWUA and the United States. Pursuant to this exchange <br />agreement, high-quality water imported to the Uncompahgre Valley by the UVWUA via the Gunnison <br />Tunnel is delivered through the South Canal to Fairview Reservoir for use by Project 7. Concurrently, <br />and on an acre-foot for acre-foot basis, TCWCD credits a like amount of water in Ridgway Reservoir in <br />an "exchange account" for the benefit of the UVWUA, where it is available for subsequent release and <br />use for irrigation purposes. The result of the exchange is to effectively exchange high-quality water <br />imported from the Gunnison River for lesser-quality water in the Uncompahgre River, while at the same <br />time making physical deliveries of domestic water to the water treatment facility possible. Under the <br />terms of the Exchange Agreement, the UVWUA is entitled to accrue credits of up to 23,000 acre-feet <br />annually, but is limited to no more than 15,000 acre-feet of capacity in Ridgway Reservoir (to <br />accommodate the exchange credits) at any one time. <br />Key Assumptions Incorporated into the CRDSS Program MODSIM <br />The following describes the key assumptions used in the CRDSS water rights planning model <br />(MODSIM) to simulate the operation of Ridgway Reservoir, Project 7, and the Ridgway Exchange. <br />The CRDSS model user is allowed to specify a monthly demand for Project 7 municipal water. <br />? <br />This demand is first satisfied using the City of Montrose's 13 percent ownership in the <br />Cimarron Canal diversions (available only during the irrigation season). If there is a remaining <br />demand, including winter requirements, the model will call for a delivery of water to Project 7 <br />from the Gunnison Tunnel pursuant to the exchange agreement. <br /> <br />Montrose Reservoir (650 acre-feet) and Fairview Reservoir (350 acre-feet) are operated as re- <br />? <br />regulating storage facilities for Project 7 water delivered via the Cimarron Canal and from the <br />UVWUA's South Canal. Evaporation losses from the model are not modeled. <br /> <br />For each acre-foot of water delivered to Project 7 at Fairview Reservoir from the South Canal, <br />? <br />an acre-foot is credited to the UVWUA's exchange account in Ridgway Reservoir. The <br />exchange is limited to 23,000 acre-feet each year, and no more than 15,000 acre-feet is allowed <br />to accrue in the exchange account. The exchange water is debited against the municipal and <br />industrial account in the reservoir. <br /> <br />Releases of water from the UVWUA's exchange account and from its own irrigation allotment <br />? <br />(10,300 acre-feet), in that order , are made to supplement the direct flow rights that are used to <br />deliver irrigation water to the Uncompahgre Project canals. The call for a storage release is <br />4 <br />A275 01.09.95 1.15-20 Fosha, Hyre <br />