Court Documents Concerning Black Canyon National Park Water Right

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Agreement Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park The undersigned parties, representing the Department of the Interior and the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), a division of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, hereby agree to the following: 1. The National Park Service shall hold and benefit from a water right for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, located on the Gunnison River in Colorado. The water right shall be quantified for the Gunnison River from below the Gunnison Diverson Dam . through the Black. Canyon to the confluence with the North Fork of the Gunnison River, in two parts, as follows: a. A federal reserved water right of 300 cfs or natural flow, whichever is less, with a 1933 priority date. Such federal water right will satisfy the CWCB's existing instream flow decree.. b. An instream flow water right under Colorado law with a 2003 priority date. Beginning with each year's April 1 forecast from the Colorado River -River Forecast Center, if Blue Mesa Reservoir is projected to fill and spill by July 31, water beyond that which satisfies present and future obligations of the authorized purposes of the Aspinall Unit, as specified in the Colorado River Storage Project Act, 43 U.S.C. § 620 et seq., as amended through the date of this agreement, shall be held by the CWCB for decreed instream flow purposes with a 2003 priority date. i. As reflected in the chart below, the Bureau of Reclamation anticipates that, based on current operations of the Aspinall Unit pursuant to the authorized purposes (after the subordination of the Aspinall Unit to 60,000 acre -feet of depletion . upstream of the Unit for in -basin water use), the peak flow amounts reflected in the chart can be reasonably expected, based on historical averages of the last twenty -six years, to pass through the Aspinall Unit system by the Bureau of Reclamation through its operations, to be exercised by CWCB for the instream flow right with a 2003 priority date. There is no guarantee that these same amounts will be available in the future, however, because the ultimate amount of . water that will be available in the future is dependent upon many factors, including where the water is removed from the system, the hydrology and the timing of the hydrology, future project demand, and reservoir elevation at the beginning of the - run -off season. In light of these considerations, on an annual basis and prior to the . spring run -off, the Bureau of Reclamation shall consult with the National Park Service, the Western Area Power Administration, the United States Fish and . Wildlife Service, the CWCB, the Colorado Water River Water Conservation