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• Board Meeting Date: 7/22/2008
• Description: ISF Section - Lower San Miguel Water Resources Planning Study
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

have been harmed by Umetco's operations (no water users have made any such claims to date).
The Consent Decree expressly provides that when the Remedial Action Plan is complete, the
Uravan Water Trust shall convey the Johnson Ditch water rights and the wells to the CWCB.
The Uravan Water Rights are described below:
Uravan Water Rights -San Miguel River
Name Amount Appropriation Date Adjudication Date Decreed
(cfs) Uses
Johnson Ditch 3.80 4/10/1891 6/3/1911 Irrigation
Johnson Ditch 3.75 2/16/1903 6/3/1911 Irrigation
Johnson Ditch 26.2 2/16/1903 10/31/1911 Irrigation,
Power
Irrigation,
Johnson Ditch 16.8 7/21/1913 9/16/1920
Power
Miguel Power Company Canal~l~ 240 10122/1926~1~ 11I1I1939~i~ Power
Notes: (1) Appropriation and adjudication dates reflect State of Colorado water rights tabulation
Uravan Water Rights -Tributary Groundwater
Name Amount Appropriation Date Adjudication Date Decreed
(cfs) Uses
Mineral Camp Nell 0.055 5/1/1958 12/31/1971 Domestic
Uravan No. 1 Nell 0.290 5/13/1959 12/31/1971 Domestic
Uravan No. 2 well 1.100 12/2/1959 12/31/1971 Domestic
Tabeguache well No. 1 0.440 7/23/1973 12/31/1973 Municipal,
Industrial
Municipal,
Tabeguache well No. 2 0.280 7/23/1973 12/31/1973
Industrial
Industrial
Eula Belle Mine Well 0.031 1/15/1961 12/31/1971 ,
Domestic
In 1991, the CWCB entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Montrose County and
the towns of Nucla and Naturita in which the CWCB agreed to consult with those entities
regarding the future use and disposition of the UMETCO water rights. Among other things, the
MOU also granted those entities a "first right of refusal" in the event the CWCB elected to sell or
dispose of the water rights.
In 2003, after an article appeared in a local newspaper regarding potential uses of the Uravan
Water Rights, representatives of the signatories to the MOU and various state officials met to
discuss the disposition of the Uravan Water Rights once the remediation was complete, to get an
estimate on the time schedule for completion of remediation, and to evaluate the status of the
Uravan Water Rights. Subsequent to that meeting, the CWCB hired Leonard Rice Engineers,
Inc. to conduct a study of the Uravan Water Rights, which was completed in June 2005. The
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