C.R.C.P. 26(a)(2) Disclosures of The CWCB, Case No. 02CW38

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erratic Colorado River flows, this storage allows the Upper Basin to develop their entitlements by reducing the likelihood of a "Compact Call" from the Lower Basin. Very briefly, the Colorado River Compact is the foundation of the "Law of the River." The 1922 Colorado River Compact (C.R.S. 37 -61 -101) is part of state law in each of the seven Colorado River Basin states that executed the Compact and is also Federal Law as the result of Congressional consent to the Compact (Public Law No. 56, 67 Congress). The Colorado River Compact does not apportion water. It apportions to the Upper Colorado Basin (Those portions of the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming tributary to the Colorado River above Lee Ferry, Arizona) and the Lower Colorado Basin (Those portions of the states of Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah tributary to the Colorado River below Lee Ferry, Arizona) the right to consume water through beneficial use. The Compact apportions to the states located in tilt Upper Basin the right to consume 7.5 maf/yr and to the states located in the Lower Basin. 8.5 maf/yr. The operative provision of the Compact requires that the states of the Upper Basin will not deplete the flow of the Colorado River mainstem below 75 maf during any consecutive 10 -year period. Additionally, the Compact provides that any obligation to deliver water to Mexico under a treaty is handled out of water surplus to that allocated under the Compact. If no surplus exists, the Upper and Lower Basins are to share equally in . meeting any such deficiency. The Lower Basin argues that there is no such surplus, and the Upper Basin therefore bears the burden to share in the delivery obligation. The Upper Basin States dispute this asserted obligation and note that the Lower Basin States are using more than the 8.5 maf they are entitled too (approximately 3 -4 .maf more). Nevertheless, in addition to its 75 maf obligation over any 10 -year period, the Upper Basin potentially faces the added burden of contributing each year one -half of the 1.5 maf Mexican Treaty obligation. This could increase the ten -year average delivery obligation by 750,000 af. After accounting for inflows from the Paria River, the "Criteria for Co&drnated Long -Range Operation of Colorado River Reservoirs" adopted in 1970 calls for a minimum objective release from Lake Powell and the Upper Basin of 8.23 maf annually. This dispute remains unresolved. • In 1948, the Upper Basin States reached agreement on the division of the 7.5 maf of beneficial consumptive use available to them from the Colorado River System. Because of the hydrologic uncertainties in the amount of water available to the Upper Basin, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact divided the consumptive use of water apportioned to the Upper Basin under the Colorado River Compact between the states on a percentage basis: Colorado - 51.75 %; New Mexico - 11.25 % ; Utah - 23.00 %; Wyoming - 14.00 %; and Arizona - 50,000 af. The important concepts to keep in mind concerning Colorado's entitlement to consumptively use water under the "Law of the River," that affect the question of whether the proposed RICD water right will impair the ability of Colorado to fully • • develop and place to consumptive use its entitlement are: 8of17