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Reservoir which might later be found by the Bureau of Reclamation to be required to <br />complete the fill of the downstream Green Mountain Reservoir because that reservoir had <br />not filled from the tributary inflow below Dillon Reservoir. In such a year, the Bureau <br />may accept a substitute supply of water for such water withheld instead of requiring <br />Denver Water to release water withheld in Dillon Reservoir during that year to complete <br />the annual fill of the senior Green Mountain Reservoir. I am concerned that, without <br />appropriate protective terms and conditions, the proposed water rights for the whitewater <br />course could impair Denver Water's ability to fully develop and place to beneficial use its <br />entitlements to divert water under the Blue River Decree. To help assure the maximum <br />utilization by Denver Water of its water rights pursuant to the Blue River Decree, the <br />appropriation sought by Silverthorne should be subject to all direct and storage <br />diversions, exchanges and substitutions that Denver Water performs or could perform to <br />divert water through the Roberts Tunnel and to retain water withheld at Dillon Reservoir <br />pursuant to its decrees or decrees needed to fully utilize Denver's ability to store and <br />divert water under the Blue River Decree. <br />Uncertainties Surroundin Administration of Green Mountain Reservoir. <br />Since 2003, there have been ongoing controversies and disputes surrounding the <br />administration of Green Mountain Reservoir. These controversies involve the extent to <br />which water withheld by Denver Water under the Blue River Decree and other entities <br />that are junior to and divert upstream of Green Mountain Reservoir should count towards <br />Green Mountain's annual fill. <br />Historically, the SEO allowed Green Mountain Reservoir to store water under its <br />1935 priority until it either achieved its initial fi11 or was called out by a downstream <br />water right senior to 1935, irrespective of the amount of depletions caused by upstream <br />water rights junior to Green Mountain, including water withheld by Denver Water under <br />the Blue River Decree. Under the current interim operating policy established by the <br />State Engineer's Office (SEO) (DWD Exhibit 7), the SEO applies water withheld by <br />these upstream juniors towards Green Mountain's annual fill. The SEO first <br />administered this interim policy in 2004 and will again be implemented in 2005. This <br />means that the SEO requires the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation ("BOR"), who owns and <br />operates Green Mountain Reservoir, to bypass Green Mountain inflow, water that the <br />BOR historically stored, because the SEO determined that Green Mountain Reservoir <br />achieved its initial fill by virtue of the depletions caused by these upstream juniors <br />including Denver Water. <br />To the extent the SEO precludes Green Mountain from storing this water, the <br />BOR's ability to fill Green Mountain from the inflow below Dillon is correspondingly <br />diminished, and Denver Water's obligation to repay the water withheld at Dillon is <br />increased. In order to retain the water withheld at Dillon, as it had historically before the <br />change in administration, Denver Water may be required to provide additional <br />replacement and substitution supplies. New decree(s) may be needed to fully utilize the <br />water withheld in Dillon Reservoir under the Blue River Decree. <br />3