Gunnison Basin Water: No Panacea for the Front Range

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The Gunnison: A Basin In Balance Gunnison Tunnel's rights may call out any rights junior to it, including those of the Aspinall Unit, when natural flows in the river fall below the UVWUAs direct flow rights. 6. The biological opinions for the Dallas Creek and Dolores projects commit up to 148,000 AFA from the Aspinall Unit to help recover endangered fish populations. This water is separate from and in addition to the 300 cfs assumed in this case to be committed to the Black Canyon reserved right. 7. Federal approval is required before relying on the use of Taylor Park Reservoir as a forebay to serve hydroelectric pumping facilities, as Arapahoe had proposed. 8. Both the first- and second-fill decrees for water stored in Taylor Park, including the conditions for release designed to optimize fish conditions below Taylor Park, are entitled to full recognition when determining water available for appropriation above Taylor Park. 9. The private instream flow rights in the Basin must be factored into the computation of water availability. These findings and conclusions are binding on all parties, whether or not they participated in the Union Park litigation. They establish conclusively that there is insufficient unappropriated water available from the Upper Gunnison to support even a small trans-basin export of water to the Front Range. D. Conclusion The Upper Gunnison is a basin in balance between traditional and economi- cally productive irrigation and other uses, including the production of hydroelectrici- ty, recreation, the environment, and enabling Colorado to use its share of Colorado River water while standing ready to meet downstream compact calls. In short, exist- ing, legally exercised water rights make use of virtually all of the water that arises in the Basin. Yet some still look to the Gunnison for water to meet the growth and sprawl on Colorado's Front Range. They do so because of a concept called "marketable yield." Marketable yield refers to water stored in Blue Mesa Reservoir already put to use to meet the purposes of the Aspinall Unit, water that some believe may be avail- able for purchase from the United States. In the next chapter, we show why the con- cept of Blue Mesa's marketable yield as a source of water for Colorado's Front Range is an illusion. • 16 • The Land and Water Fund oF the Rockies