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<br />" <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />o.rol.. J~ 1[; (SL) <br /> <br />P;f?-- J <br />JG4<.:h\...f".........II,I..j <br /> <br />666~ E ~ Nvr <br />a3M3~3l:J <br /> <br />COLORADO RIVER WATER <br />CONSERVATION DISTRICT <br /> <br />January 8, 1999 <br /> <br />Curtis Brown, Study Manager <br />Platte River Programmatic EIS Office <br />US Bureau of Reclamation <br />PO Box 25007 <br />Denver, CO 80225.0007 <br /> <br />Dear Curt: <br /> <br />At your request, we are providing this letter explaining the District's position regarding imported <br />water from the Colorado River as a component of any solution to endangered species problems in the Platte <br />River basin. <br /> <br />We agree completely with the following position taken by the State of Colorado and other Colorado <br />water users: that water cannot be exported from the Colorado River basin for the purpose of increasing Platte <br />River flows in Nebraska, Such an export would be contrary to existing interstate Compacts and Colorado <br />law. While we understand that listing such an alternative may be important in the early stages of an E1S <br />study, its actual implementation as a means of mitigating the State of Colorado's depletions in the Platte <br />basin is prohibited. <br /> <br />The District is more concerned with the indirect augmentation of the Platte River using existing <br />rights and facilities that are currently operated to deliver Colorado River water for various uses east of the <br />Continental Divide. The Platte River Programmatic EIS (PElS) process must not result in erosion of the <br />long-standing institutional and legal safeguards which are designed to insure efficient, full, beneficial use <br />of transmountain water in amounts that are the minimum necessary to supplement native Platte River <br />supplies~ Any savings of water within the Platte River basin ;0 Colorado which can be construed to diminish <br />the need for diversion of water from the Colorado River basin must be allowed to do so, and such savings <br />must accrue to the Colorado River, not the Platte. Such savings may be due to increased efficiency at the <br />point of use, recapture and re-use of return flows, implementation of new storage capacity (above or below <br />ground), or other means of river regulation. <br /> <br />Justification for this conservative approach to operating transmountain diversions, in addition to state <br />legislative and case law, stems from the existence of endangered fish species in the lower reaches of the <br />Colorado River. Current efforts to recover these species are impacted by additional diversions from the <br />headwaters of the basin, particularly those diversions which are 100% depletive of the natural flow. By way <br />of example, one of the objectives of the Recoverv Prol!ram for Endanl!ered Fishes of the Unner Colorado <br />River Basin is tc) re-operate reservoirs to enhance springtime peak flow through the fishes' habitat. <br />Transmountain diversions typically divert or store water at peak rates during the peak runoff months. Future <br />increases in transmountain diversions will further deplete the Colorado River at the very times runoff is <br /> <br />SUITE #204 . 201 CENTENNIAL STREET <br />P,O, BOX 1120/GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO 81602 <br />(970) 945-8522 -fAX (970) 945-8799 <br />