Gunnison Basin Water: No Panacea for the Front Range

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The Gunnison: A Basin In Balance water releases throughout the year can be evened out to provide supplemental irriga- tion deliveries and to optimize fishery and recreation conditions in Taylor Park Reservoir and below Taylor Park in the Taylor and Gunnison Rivers.'B In 1990 the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (Upper Gunnison District) was granted a right to re-fill Taylor Park Reservoir in the amount of 106,230 AF (appropriation date 1975). This right was premised on the Exchange Agreement. Water held under this right, which was conveyed to the United States in 1992, is decreed for recreational purposes while stored in the reservoir, and is to be released to enhance the fishery and recreational uses in the Taylor and Gunnison rivers above Blue Mesa Reservoir. Specific flow rates below Taylor Dam were decreed in this case to optimize fishery conditions. In addition, 19,200 AFA of the second-fill are decreed for irrigation purposes below Taylor Dam. B. Existing Water Uses in the Upper Gunnison Existing water use in the Upper Basin breaks cleanly into two major cate- gories: out-of-stream uses (for irrigation and drinking water for cities) and in-stream uses (for hydropower, recreation, the environment, and meeting Compact require- ments). In the Union Park litigation, described below and in Appendix 1, the courts decided that all of these uses legally qualify as beneficial uses of water. 1. Out-of-Stream Uses Out of stream uses of Gunnison River water are nothing short of enormous. In sum: Water Use Upper Basin Agriculture Gunnison Tunnel Redlands Canal Municipal Use Average Amount (in acre feet anually) 668,000 AFA 365,000 AFA 530,000 AFA 14,000-17,000 AFA a. Upper Basin Agriculture Agriculture has been a cultural and an economic underpinning in the basin for over a century and continues to dominate the diversion and consumptive use of Gunnison water today. Irrigation accounts for 97% of the current out-of-stream water diversions in the Upper Basin19 and requires huge water deliveries at the Gunnison Tunnel (annual average of 365,000 AF) and Redlands Canal (530,000 AFA) in the lower basin. In the Upper Basin, irrigators within the Upper Gunnison District20 apply 668,000 AFAZ' to grow hay and irrigate pasture on over 63,000 acres of land.ZZ The Upper Gunnison District reports that the market value of agricultural crops (including hay produced as well as cattle and other animals sold) was $8.4 million in 1997.23 Irrigated land is supported by some of the oldest water rights in the Basin. The Spann and Trampe Ranches hold the largest irrigation water rights in the East • 6 • The Land ond Water Fund of the Rockies