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as a business. The Enterprise is acting as the oversight agency for the District and the Conduit <br />participants. The Enterprise itself has no taxing authority, but will function as the business entity <br />to handle the process leading up to and the actual construction of the conduit. <br />The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District has over 50 years of history of working <br />with the Bureau of Reclamation on the planning, development and operation of the Fryingpan- <br />Arkansas Project. The District includes nine counties and stretches from Chaffee County to <br />Prowers County, encompassing large municipalities as well as over 200,000 acres of irrigable <br />farmland. The District has the proven history as well as the personnel in place to handle a <br />project of this size. <br />Hydrology acrd Water Rights <br />The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District has perpetual rights to import water <br />from the western slope of the Continental Divide in Colorado based upon certain limitations. <br />These limitations are such that the original estimated yield of the project was 69,100 acre-feet. <br />The past 25 year historical average of allocations has been about 48,160 acre-feet. Of this <br />diversion, 12% is reserved for municipalities east of Pueblo. This has averaged about 5,779 '` <br />acre-feet per year. This water was originally intended for the municipalities east of Pueblo for <br />domestic use. This is the water that is expected to be taken down the conduit to these <br />municipalities. <br />Taking return flows into consideration will help meet the current demand that the municipalities <br />are requesting down the conduit. Because Project water is imported from the Western Slope, <br />municipal return flows (measured and unmeasured) are available to be exchanged back up the <br />river into Pueblo Reservoir where they are available to the originating entity for reuse. <br />Another possible source of water for the conduit may come from the dry up of agriculture land in ~ <br />the lower Arkansas Valley. As that water becomes available for municipal use within the + <br />District, it is expected that some of this water will be made available to municipalities <br />participating in the conduit. This will help to meet future demands. <br />Future growth beyond these yields will require the acquisition of additional water rights to meet <br />any future demands. There is currently no limitation that only Project water can be taken down <br />the conduit. Thus, there is plenty of opportunity for additional water to be available to the ~ ~ ~- <br />conduit for future growth. P~J~'r ~ <br />w~ ~ <br />