Prehearing Statement of Colorado River Water Conservation District

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Executive Summa: April 23, 2003 Page vii Colorado River below the Fraser River confluence: The water supply systems for the Towns of Hot Sulphur Springs and Kremmling were adequate for existing demands but would experience shortages under all of the future demand scenarios. In addition, instream flows below Windy Gap were below CWCB, fish minimum, and kayak minimum levels under all scenarios. Windy Gap is required to bypass flows to maintain CWCB minimum flow requirements unless flows are less than the minimum flow; however, since the model does not capture this level of detail, it is difficult to know precisely how often flows will be below the CWCB, fish minimum and kayak minimum flows. Low flows in the Colorado River below Windy Gap in the late summer and early fall often result in high water temperatures that adversely impact the trout fishery. Summit County The PACSM results were divided into the following sub-basins: Blue River above Dillon Reservoir: Municipa] and domestic water supplies were adequate for existing and future water demand scenarios, but the Breckenridge Golf Course would experience shortages under all demand scenarios in most years during the spring and fall rnonths. The potential for a collaborative arrangement involving in-basin water providers, Summit County and the City of Colorado Springs to develop additional storage in the Upper Blue River Basin emerges as a potential solution for further evaluation in Phase III. Tenmile Creek above Dillon Reservoir: Copper Mountain Water & Sanitation District and the Copper Mountain Golf Course will experience frequent small water supply shortages under existing demands and occasional large shortages under future demands. Instream flows in Tenmile Creek below West Tenmile Creek were frequently below CWCB levels and occasionally below wastewater treatment plant low-flow levels under all demand scenarios. Snake River above Dillon Reservoir: A-Basin and Keystone snowmaking, Keystone- domestic uses below Peru Creek, Keystone Gulch and the East Dillon Water District will experience water supply shortages under future demands. The water supply shortages in the Snake River Basin are due primarily to lack of adequate physical supply during the fall and winter months. Keystone snowmaking shortages can be eliminated by pumping water from Denver's Montezuma shaft into the Snake River. An additional issue relating to reduced streamflows concerns levels of zinc, cadmium and copper in excess of aquatic life water quality standards and levels of manganese in excess of the domestic water supply standards due to acid mine drainage from the Peru Creek drainage. Dillon Reservoir and the Blue River below Dillon: Under future demand conditions, PACSM results indicate significant increases in the frequency and duration of periods when Dillon reservoir would be below levels needed for normal operation of the Dillon and Frisco marinas. Streamflows in the Blue River below Dillon Reservoir under future demands would be at or above the 50 cfs CWCB instream flow but frequently below fish minimum levels of 55 cfs, rafting low-flow levels and kayak low-flow levels. Reservoir levels during the summer recreation season and flows in the Blue River below Dillon are influenced primarily by water demands on the Denver System. Hydrosphere, 1002 Walnut Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302