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5. Intent to Appropriate. The court finds that Golden possessed the requisite intent <br />Jo appropriate water for the amounts and time periods_shown_in Tables I. and 2,. <br />below. <br />6. Absolute and Conditional Amounts. Golden is entitled to an absolute decree for <br />those flow rates that have been put to beneficial use, i.e., actually used to date by <br />boaters running the Course. The absolute water rights claimed by Golden in the <br />application were based, inter alia, upon measured flows'' at the Clear Creek Gage <br />when the course was in use by boaters.' <br />In many months, there was insufficient evidence of gage flows during use. <br />The court finds that in such instances, average monthly flows for the 26 -year <br />period 1974 -19994 provide a reasonable estimate of the stream stages anticipated <br />and actually used by boaters. Where the evidence has tied a given use to a <br />contemporaneous flow rate, the court concludes that the maximum such <br />coincidence. of use and flow rate, in a given month, establishes flow rate for that <br />month for which Golden is entitled to an absolute decree. <br />The court also distinguishes between day and night use, inasmuch as there <br />is a substantial difference in density of use before and after dark. In addition, <br />Golden's plan to encourage night use by installing lights to illuminate the stream <br />is still in the planning stage. The court has chosen 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. as a <br />year -round average demarcation between light and dark, recognizing that <br />seasonal differences are substantial. Golden may yet, during the diligence <br />period, establish actual use -flow rate data to justify a decree for recreational <br />rights throughout all or part of a twenty-four hour period. However, perfection of <br />nighttime rights must be established from uses that occur between one -hour after <br />sundown and one hour before sunrise. Tying decreed flow rates to actual diurnal <br />and monthly use will limit Golden's appropriation to that amount of water <br />actually put to beneficial use at given points in time. <br />Tables 1 -and 2 show the respective decreed rates for day and night use. <br />The first row of each table lists the total monthly flow rates, in cubic feet per <br />second (cfs), that Golden seeks. The second row lists the flow rates that were <br />appropriated and applied to beneficial use by Golden, for the months given, and <br />which the court is now decreeing to be absolute. The third row lists the difference <br />in flow rates between row 1 and row 2, and which the court now decrees to be <br />conditional. As is apparent from Table 2, the court has insufficient data to decree <br />night uses to be absolute. <br />Flow rates decreed absolute for the months of April. June, July and August are from State's Exhibit S-4.1 <br />The court includes users of any flotation device in the term "boaters ". <br />' Calculated by the court from Exhibit G -3. <br />Page 4 of I 1 <br />