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Republican River, or tributaries of the North Fork ("North Fork Lease"). The water that <br />has historically been diverted for irrigation use will be left in the North Fork, which will <br />reduce the consumptive use charged to the State of Colorado under the Republican <br />River Compact Administration's accounting procedures. The RRWCD WAE leased the <br />water rights in 2008, demonstrating that the lease of the water rights is feasible. The <br />RRWCD Board of Directors increased use fees in 2008 to repay the $60.6 million loan <br />to the CWCB for the Compact Compliance Pipeline. The revenues from the use fees <br />will also be adequate to repay the $4.545 million loan for the North Fork Lease. The <br />North Fork Lease and the Compact Compliance Pipeline will remove the threat of <br />curtailment of diversions for more than 485,000 irrigated acres in the Republican River <br />Basin (after retirement of acreage for the Compact Compliance Pipeline). <br />Yuma County is applying fora $9.5 million loan from the CWCB Water Project <br />Construction Fund to purchase the water rights and will rely upon portions of this Loan <br />Feasibility Study to support its loan application. <br />The RRWCD at this time has not sought a direct financial contribution from the State of <br />Colorado for the Compact Compliance Pipeline or the North Fork Lease, although the <br />Compact Compliance Pipeline project and the North Fork Lease will allow the State of <br />Colorado to avoid paying damages in the future for exceeding the State's compact <br />allocations due to ground water impacts that occurred decades ago. <br />