ALP 5

identified as A -LP water under the A -LP Decrees. This was affirmed in a letter dated March 30,
1988 from the Colorado State Engineer to Mr. S.E. Reynolds, New Mexico Interstate Stream
Commission.
Releases from Ridges Basin Reservoir (a.k.a. Lake Nighthorse) of the the Navaje- Natier�
and CNew Mexico Participants' allocations will be shepherded down Basin Creek and the
Animas River to the State line, as verified at USGS Animas River Gaging Station Near Cedar Hill,
NM (Id. No. 09363500) ( "Cedar Hill gage "). "Shepherding" means that no other water users will
be allowed to divert the water, regardless of their priority. Natural transit losses between the
Reservoir and the State line, as verified at the Cedar Hill gage, will be borne by the Project
Participant.
Non- Stored Allocations for the the Navaje Nation 9F Si New Mexico Participants can
be shepherded down the Animas to the Stateline (as verified at the Cedar Hill gage) if they were
measured at the DPP and accounted for under the A -LP Decrees within the Project Flow Rate.
XI. LIMITATION ON RIGHT OF PROJECT PARTICIPANTS TO REUSE PROJECT WATER:
The A -LP Decrees and Tribal Decrees are all silent on reuse. Therefore, reuse of Project
return flows by Project Participants in the Animas River basin in Colorado is not allowed. See,
e.g., Water Supply & Storage Company v. Curtis, 733 P.2d 680, 683 (Colo. 1987). However, if
ALP water is imported to another basin in Colorado from the Animas basin, then the party
which imports that water has a special statutory right to reuse it and /or put it to successive
uses "to the extent that its volume can be distinguished from the volume of the streams into
which it is introduced." § 37 -82 -106, C.R.S. (2011). This rule applies regardless of whether there
was intent to reuse at the time of the appropriation or of the initial importation. Thornton v.
Biiou, 926 P.2d 1, 70 (1996). Therefore, if A -LP water is taken to the La Plata Basin in Colorado,
for example, its reuse may be accounted for under the A -LP Decrees. Any such reuse will be
subject to the federal "average annual depletion" limits.
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