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The Water Supply & Storage Company January 20, 2009 (UPDATED JANUARY 28) Page 3 of 6 The Water Supply & Storage Company Agenda Item l lb The Water Supply & Storage Company, anon-profit Colorado mutual ditch corporation, was founded in 1891 and has 600 shares and about 165 shareholders. The shareholder group includes: Thornton, Fort Collins, East Larimer County Water District, Greeley and other municipal type borrowers totaling 390 shares or 65% of outstanding shares. The remaining shares are owned by about 160 family farmers. All the water owned by the Company is and has been historically diverted for agricultural uses, principally flood and sprinkler irrigation of about 40,000 acres in northern Colorado. The Company's office is located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Company's bylaws indicate the Board of Directors may enter into a loan contract with CWCB and has the power to sell stock for non-payment of assessments. The Company's annual meeting is January 23, 2009, at which annual assessments are approved. The Directors anticipate keeping assessments at their current level. Water Rights The Company collects, diverts and delivers about 55,500 AF of water annually from three principal sources. Those sources are direct flow rights in the Cache la Poudre River and two trans-mountain diversions that include: (1) diversion from the headwaters of the Colorado River in the Kawuneeche Valley of Rocky Mountain National Park via the Grand River Ditch and over the Continental Divide at la Poudre Pass; (2) diversion from the headwaters of the Laramie River via the Rawah Ditch (via the Laramie-Poudre Tunnel); and (3) Skyline Ditch, which diverts directly into Chambers Lake. All water diverted from outside the Cache la Poudre basin flows either into Long Draw Reservoir or Chambers Lake, and then into the Cache la Poudre River. All waters taken by the Company for distribution to its shareholders is taken out about 50 miles downstream through its headgate on the Cache la Poudre River just south of Ted's Place near the intersection of US 287 & SH 14. That headgate is the upper end of the Company's main distribution canal called the Larimer County Canal. Through that headgate the Company also draws exchanged flows for shares of C-BT water. Water is distributed to shareholders based upon a schedule set by the Company's Board of Directors. Deliveries are usually made 4 or 5 days per week from about mid-May through the first week of September. The schedule is variable, depending on water supplies and the frequency and sufficiency of natural rainfall over the service area. Project Description Grand River Ditch Project -Alternatives Considered No Action alternative -The Company quickly dismissed a No Action alternative, as it would result in surrendering a portion of its adjudicated water rights for the Grand River Ditch. Tunnel alternative - It is possible that the Windy Point section of the Ditch could be tunneled through the brow of the ridge. Estimated at a'/4 mile long bore and assuming a ten foot diameter bore, the amount of material removed would be about 5,000 cubic yards. Preliminary estimates are