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The Pueblo Chieftain Online I Tuesday Page 3 of 4 <br />That water reaches Aurora via pipeline after <br />leaving the Arkansas at the Otero Pump station <br />between Leadville and Buena Vista. But the <br />pump station and pipeline already are operating <br />near capacity. <br />Pueblo's 1990s exchange contract requires <br />Aurora to pay $50 per acre -foot up to 4,000 <br />acre -feet each year (even when no exchange <br />takes place) and $60 per acre -foot up to a yearly <br />limit of 10,000 acre -feet. <br />Doug Kemper, director of water resources for <br />Aurora, said the city's first purchase of Rocky <br />Ford Ditch shares netted an annual yield of <br />8,200 acre -feet, and the pending sale will bring <br />between 5,000 -6,000 acre -feet. <br />That leaves Aurora with at least 4,000 acre -feet <br />of Rocky Ford water that couldn't be brought <br />upstream through any existing decrees, <br />contracts or pipelines. <br />Kemper said there have been no talks with <br />Pueblo to amend the 1990 contract or strike up <br />another one. <br />"Right now we're talking about what's in our <br />applications - the same discussions we're <br />having with everyone else," Kemper said. <br />Hamel said the water board "won't even <br />entertain the idea of any discussions on other <br />leases, if they ever do, until the point in time that <br />we have an agreement and protection of our <br />water rights in place" regarding the pending <br />decree applications. <br />E -mail this story to a friend <br />Next O <br />http: / /www. chieftain. com /tuesday /news /display.php3 ?article =l 04/04/2000 <br />