Wayne N. Aspinall Unit: Briefing on Reservoir Operations

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diverts about 750 cfs year round under their senior water rights for irrigation, hydropower generation, and municipal and industrial purposes. Two proposals for non - federal projects in the Gunnison Basin are under study. The AB Lateral Hydropower Project would be downstream of the Unit, and the Upper Gunnison River Basin Project (Union Park Transbasin Diversion Project) would be in the headwaters of the basin. The AB Lateral Hydropower Project is sponsored by Montrose Partners as a joint venture with the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association. This project would increase annual diversions from the Gunnison River through the Gunnison Tunnel by approximately 300,000 acre -feet. Reclamation is the lead federal agency for environmental compliance on this project. In cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers, Reclamation is working with the sponsors to supplement a 1990 final environmental impact statement for this project. The Upper Gunnison River Basin Project was studied under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulations. An application for a preliminary permit for the project was filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 1997 by the County of Arapahoe and Town of Parker, Colorado. In its comments to FERC, the Department of the Interior concluded that authority for hydropower development at Taylor Park Reservoir rests with Interior. This project would include a 900,000 acre -foot reservoir and use Taylor Park Reservoir as a fore- and afterbay in its pumped storage reservoir. In 1988 and 1990, Arapahoe County, Colorado, filed applications seeking conditional water rights for the Union Park Project to move water from the Gunnison Basin to eastern Colorado. These rights were opposed by the United States to the extent they would interfere with the purposes of Reclamation projects in the Gunnison Basin. Gunnison County, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and other water users in the Gunnison River Basin have also opposed these water right applications. Following a 1991 trial, the District Court issued an Order that held there was only 20,000 acre - feet of unappropriated water available for the project. In 1995, the Colorado Supreme Court partially reversed the 1991 Order on the basis that the District Court adopted improper guidelines in determining water availability, and sent the availability issue back to the District Court. A trial was held in 1997 and a district water court judge ruled that not more than 15,000 acre -feet of unappropriated water (average annual yield) was available to the project. Since Arapahoe County previously stated that at least 20,000 acre -feet of unappropriated water would be needed for a feasible project, their applications were denied and dismissed. We are now awaiting a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court on the project proponent's appeal. In addition, the judge also agreed with Reclamation's position that a depletion allowance of 60,000 acre -feet above the Aspinall Unit was limited to benefitting only in -basin junior users. Thus, the proposed transbasin project cannot benefit from Reclamation's depletion allowance. The National Park Service has also initiated a resource protection study on lands within the National Park and National Recreation Area. Access, maintenance, and replacement issues with both the Aspinall Unit and the Uncompahgre Project will need to be considered in this study. 10