C153609 contract docs

• Contract/PO #: C153609
• Contractor Name: Conejos Water Conservancy District
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 22
• County: Conejos
• Bill Number: SB 87-15
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Contract Documents

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APPENDIX B
OPERATING AGREEMENT
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THIS AGREEMENT is made by and between Conejos Water
Conservancy District (the "District") and the State Engineer of the
State of Colorado and Colorado�s Commissioner to the Rio Grande
Compact Commission ("State Engineer").
WHEREAS, pursuant to statute and its organizational decree,
the District represents the water users•of the Conejos River,
including its tributaries, the San Antonio River and the Los Pinos
River (the "water users"); and
WHEREAS, the District has exclusive
operation and maintenance of Platoro Dam
"Reservoir"), and is the sole beneficiary of
for flood control benefits; and
responsibility for
and Reservoir (the
the Reservoir except
WHEREAS, water users suffer large curtailments in diversions
by reason of administration of water rights to assure compliance
with delivery obligations under the Rio Grande Compact; and
WHEREAS, the District r i hat the State of Colorado
has a difficult task in ad the Rio Grande and the
Conejos systems so as to mee e obli ' on imposed by the Rio
Grande Compact;
WHEREAS, the District 9��z that the use of available
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space in the Reservoir the storage of waters that would
otherwise be sent to the Colorado-New Mexico state line and which
may be in excess of the obligation imposed by the Rio Grande
Compact would aid the State of Colorado in minimizing over-
deliveries under the Compact, and correspondingly allow for the
maximum delivery of water for beneficial use in Colorado; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Senate Bill 87-15 and House Bill 91-1006,
the Colorado General Assembly has expressed its desire that a
portion of the Reservoir's storage capacity be utilized to meet
Colorado's obligations under the Rio Grande Compact, and to
maximize the use of the Compact-allocated waters in Colorado; and
WHEREAS, the Colorado General Assembly has appropriated funds
to the Colorado Water Conservation Board Construction Fund to
assist the District in obtaining a permanent transfer of authority
over Platoro Reservoir. No funds from this appropriation shall be
expended, except $50,000 for development of an operational model of
the Reservoir, until the State Engineer certifies to the Colorado
Water Conservation Board that an operating agreement satisfactory
to him for the State's use of the Reservoir for Compact purposes
has been agreed upon; and