Case No. 02CW038 Prehearing Statement nad Agreement June 2000

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Colorado Water Conservation Board Case No. 02CW038, Water Division 4; Concerning the Application for Water Rights of the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, in the Gunnison River, in Gunnison County, Colorado Prehearing Statement of Colorado River Water Conservation District Page 3 of 5 exchanges or reservoir operations allowed by the Taylor Park Reservoir Operation and Storage Exchange Agreement ( "Taylor Park Reservoir Agreement "), attached hereto as Exhibit C. Annual accounting required by the Subordination Agreement has demonstrated that approximately 8,373 acre feet of depletions occurred from water rights with priorities equal or junior to the Aspinall Unit water rights under the Subordination Agreement between November 1, 1999 and October 31, 2000. See 2000 Annual Report regarding Subordination of the Wayne N. Aspinall Unit Water Rights Within the Upper Gunnison Basin dated October 1, 2001, attached hereto as Exhibit D. Thus, in -basin water rights currently consume less than 14% of the depletions allowed by the Subordination Agreement, leaving most of the depletion allowance to be developed under priorities junior to the UGRWCD's claimed RICD. Figure 4 of Exhibit A to the UGRWCD's Prehearing Statement (Historical Streamflow Entering the Proposed Whitewater Park vs RICD Water Right Application) demonstrates that the UGRWCD's claimed RICD would call out upstream junior water rights in 3 years out of 26 (12% of the time) during May 1 - June 15 and July 16 - September 30 and in 10 years out of 26 (38% of the time) during June 16 - July 15. The CRWCD is concerned, therefore, about the effect of the claimed RICD on the ability of in -basin junior water users to fully develop the water that is subject to the Subordination Agreement. The CRWCD is hopeful that a cooperative solution to the CRWCD's concerns can be reached. Because the UGRWCD is a party to the Subordination Agreement with an obligation to represent the in -basin users who benefit from the subordination, the UGRWCD presumably shares the CRWCD's desire to facilitate full implementation of the Subordination Agreement. As of this date, however, the parties have not developed a reliable method for reconciling the UGRWCD's claimed RICD with future development for in -basin uses. In the event an agreement cannot be reached before the CWCB completes its proceedings, the CRWCD requests that the CWCB recommend to the water court that UGRWCD's RICD water right be granted with the condition that the right should not be permitted to interfere with the full development of the 60,000 acre feet of depletions for use within the Upper Gunnison Basin allowed under the Subordination Agreement or any exchanges or reservoir operations allowed by the Taylor Park Reservoir Agreement. IV. POSSIBLE WITNESSES A. A representative of the CRWCD (R. Eric Kuhn, David Merritt, Dan Birch, or David Kanzer), Colorado River Water Conservation District, P.O. Box 1120, Glenwood Springs, CO 81602.