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4. Severe and Prolonged Drought Frankly. it seems inane to have to argue about whether severe and prolonged drought conditions exist, yet some state personnel have disputed the issue with regard to the 1979 contract. At the risk of belaboring the obvious. we are including some evidence regarding the drought. . News accounts are replete with statements from numerous officials regarding the severity of this, the worst drought in Colorado's history. . On April 24, Governor Owens requested, for the fIrst time ever, that the entire state of Colorado be declared a drought emergency area. He noted that snowpack was at a historic low. . On April 24, the State Climatologist stated that we are clearly in a multiyear drought. On August 16, he stated that an average snowpack will not get us out of the drought. . On October 5. a researcher for CD and NOAA stated that 2002 was one of the driest. if not the driest, years in 300 or more years. . On October 5. the State Engineer stated that the drought in the South Platte Basin was the worst since 1730, and predicted that runoff this year would be 25'il of nonnaL . On April 24, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources described this as being a drought of historic proponions. On September 22, he explained that stream flows throughout the state have been at all-time lows. . On August 16, the chairman of the state drought task force from the CWCB explained that the weather this summer transformed 2002 from an ordinary drought year into an extraordinary one. . Denver Water has imposed the most stringent water use restrictions in its history. . Attached to this memo are two maps from national sources demonstrating that Colorado's drought. as of the first week of October, is severe. extreme or exceptional. These maps were used by the State Engineer in a presentation on October 10. Denver Water therefore proposes to access its water in Chatfield, in a manner that impacts recreation only when necessary and ties that impact to the degree of adversity imposed on Denver Water's 1.2 million customers. The 1979 contract requires a reasonable drought determination by the CWCB before Denver Water can take water below 5423: no detennination is required for Denver Water to use water between 5426 and 5423. Numerous entities have provided water to the CWCB and to State Parks for instream flows and recreation. respectively, most with a proviso that they can access their water in times of need. If water users like Denver Water are denied the right to use their water in circumstances like this summer, then no rational water user is likely to provide water to the state in the future. 5. Denver Water's Draw-Down Proposal The level to which ChatfIeld storage is reduced would be tied to the severity of the restrictions being imposed on consumers in Denver Water's service area. Only if mandatory restrictions are being imposed would recreation be impacted. Under Stage 2 mandatory watering restrictions. the recreation pool would be full (5426) until after the Founh of July in 2003, and Denver Water would maintain the level above 5423 until after Labor Day. After Labor Day, there are two alternatives: (I) Denver Water would take the pool down to 5419 (one boat ramp would remain 3