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<br />2) The Court's March 25, 1991, Decrees in 90-CW-92 and <br />90-CW-110 upholding the validity of certain private minimum <br />instream flow decrees issued in 1975 in cases: W-1985, <br />W-1986 and W-1991 (addressed in the order in 90-CW-92) and <br />W-1987 (addressed in the order in 90-CW-I10). <br /> <br />3) The Court's Decree issued in May 1991 in 88-CW-183 <br />wherein it found reasonable diligence with respect to <br />certain conditional decrees for the Upper Gunnison River <br />Project (owned by the Colorado River Water Conservation <br />District), but significantly, the Court cancelled certain <br />conditional decrees in said project, including decrees for <br />the East River Canal and the Taylor River Canal. <br /> <br />17. Premises for Analysis of Existing Rights: As part of the <br />law of the case, the Court informed counsel that it defined exist- <br />ing water rights as including all absolute decrees and "major <br />conditional water rights" which had priority over the Applicant's <br />proposed project. {See the Court's pretrial orders of April 4 and <br />May 6, 1991, regarding existing water rights.} The Court recog- <br />nized that in some ways a basin-wide analvsis of water availability <br />was a matter of first impression without statutory or case law to <br />provide well-defined guidelines. Thus the Court indicated a will- <br />ingness to let each party present its theory of the case regarding <br />water availability," . so long as the theory reflects the <br />'present condition of the river' and not some future condition of <br />the river." (Paragraph 4(g) of Order of 5/6/91 on Existing Rights.] <br />However, while permitting some flexibility of approach, the Court <br />also indicated that in the absence of persuasive evidence to the <br />contrary it expected the parties to model water availability on the <br />basis of the following principles: <br /> <br />a. The model was to reflect the impact of existing water <br />rights senior to the priority dates claimed by Arapahoe. <br /> <br />b. The Court utilized April 15, 1991, as the date to <br />determine the quantity of a given right. <br /> <br />c. As a general rule, the Court expected the parties to <br />model existing senior rights on the basis of the face amount <br />of the decrees for said rights, while taking into account the <br />decreed purpose of the right -- ie. taking into account for <br />example, that a direct flow irrigation right is not diverted <br />continuously 365 days per year, but rather is utilized only <br />during the irrigation season (commonly from April through <br />October), and that it is diverted only as needed to maintain <br />a given crop. To permit reliable analysis in this regard, the <br />Court authorized the parties to utilized historic data as a <br />guide to the actual use of a given right. Further, the Court <br />established the following guidelines: <br /> <br />1) In quantifying an absolute right, the Court recog- <br />nized that the original decreed amount of an absolute <br />right could be altered by a formal abandonment proceeding <br />or by being re-quantified through a change proceeding or by <br /> <br />9 <br />