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<br />Supreme Court, State of Colorado (Appeal from District Court, Water Division No. 4, Case No. 02CW38) <br />Case No. 04SA44: Colorado Water Conservation Board v. Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District <br />Answer Brief of the Colorado River Water Conservation District <br />that the claimed RICD could place an administrative call on currently unknown junior water rights <br />located upstream of the RICD in certain limited circumstances. See State's Opening Brief, p. 26. <br />The simple fact that the RICD, just like any other water, has the potential to call-out more junior <br />water rights on occasion does not result in compact impairment. <br />The great weight of testimony at trial was provided by 7ames Lochhead, a former executive <br />director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, who served at trial as the Upper <br />Gunnison District's expert witness on compact and maximum utilization issues. (R., v. V, p. 205, <br />line 25 to p. 206, line 1; v. V, p. 213, line 2, p. 118, line 13 to p. 219, line 3.) Mr. Lochhead testified <br />that there would not be any compact impairment because the state's Colorado River Compact <br />entitlement is allocated to the state as a whole, not to individual river basins. (R., v. V, p. 221, line <br />5 to p. 225, line 9; v. VI, p. 12, lines 9-16; p. 19, line 8 to p. 20, line 10.) <br />The state's compact entitlement therefore can be developed in other river basins. In addition, new <br />water development can occur upstream of the RICD, even in circumstances where the RICD might <br />be entitled to place an administrative call under the priority system on a junior water right. The <br />doctrine of maximum utilization requires that all water rights, includingpossible future projects, use <br />reasonable means to effectuate their diversions. To promote maximum utilization, future projects <br />must take advantage of the flexible nature of Colorado water law to develop projects through the use <br />of augmentation plans, new storage facilities, and exchanges. (R., v. VI, p.5, line 7 to p. 7, line 17.) <br />Page 19