Laserfiche WebLink
WHEREAS, the United States decided that the Aspinall Unit Rights would be utilized in <br />such a manner, and pursuant to such operating criteria, so as to permit future upstream water <br />depletions byproj ects constructed for use of water within the Gunnison River Basin, in an aggregate <br />amount to be determined by the United States, even though such proj ects divert under priorities equal <br />or junior to the priorities of the Aspinall Unit Rights, thereby creating a Depletion Allowance for the . <br />Aspinall Unit; and <br />WHEREAS, the Depletion Allowance reflects a commitment that was made by the United <br />States prior to the construction of the Aspinall Unit and which has been recognized by the United <br />States prior to this Agreement both in correspondence and in four Agreements executed in 1964 and <br />1965 with water users and reaffirmed in August 1996 in correspondence from the U. S. Department <br />of Justice to the Colorado Attorney General and from the United States Department of the Interior <br />to the Colorado Water Conservation Board; and <br />WHEREAS, the River District enters into this Agreement in order to represent various <br />individuals and entities who divert water upstream from either Crystal Dam and Reservoir or <br />Morrow Point Dam and Reservoir and use that water downstream from Blue Mesa Dam within the <br />Gunnison River Basin in order to implement the Depletion Allowance; and <br />WHEREAS, the Upper Gunnison District enters into this Agreement in order to represent <br />various individuals and entities who divert and use water in the Gunnison River Basin upstream from <br />Blue Mesa Dam in order to implement the Depletion Allowance; <br />THEREFORE, it is agreed as follows: <br />1. From the date ofthis Agreement, the Depletion Allowance for the Aspinall Unit shall <br />be implemented only pursuant to this Agreement and not through subsequent agreements with water <br />users. <br />2. The United States agrees to subordinate the Aspinall Unit Rights to up to 10,000 of <br />of annual water depletions in the Gunnison River Basin drainage between Crystal Dam and Morrow <br />Point Dam, and 10,000 of of such depletions in the drainage between Blue Mesa Dam and Morrow <br />Point Dam to the water users represented by the River District, and to subordinate the Aspinall Unit <br />Rights to up to 40,000 of of annual water depletions in the drainage above Blue Mesa Dam to the <br />water users represented by the Upper Gunnison District and to the Upper Gunnison District Rights <br />under the conditions described in paragraph 5. By subordinating to the rights of such water users, <br />the United States agrees that such water users may continue to divert when a call is placed on the <br />Gunnison River by the United States under the Aspinall Rights, subject to the limits of the stated <br />subordination in the separate drainages. <br />3. As consideration for the United States' agreement to subordinate the Aspinall Unit <br />Rights to water users in the Gunnison River Basin to implement the Depletion Allowance, the River <br />District agrees to represent the various individuals and entities who divert water upstream of either <br />0 <br />