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<br />; <br /> <br />,; <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />STATE OF COLORADO <br /> <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br /> <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 721 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866-3441 <br />FAX: (303) 8664474 <br />www.cwcb.state.co.us <br /> <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />Bill Owens <br />Governor <br /> <br />To: Colorado Water Conservation Board Members <br /> <br />From: Dan Merriman and Linda Bassi ~ <br />Stream and Lake Protection Secti~ <br /> <br />Russell George <br />Executive Director <br /> <br />Rod Kuharich <br />CWCB Director <br /> <br />Date: September 6, 2005 <br /> <br />Rick Brown <br />Acting Deputy <br />Director <br /> <br />Re: Agenda No. 24, September 13-I4, 2005 Board Meeting: Rehabilitation of Meridian <br />Lake by Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District <br /> <br />The Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District ("District") has requested the Board to refrain <br />from placing a call for its Slate River instream flow water right during the District's rehabilitation of <br />Meridian Lake Reservoir, which must be emptied to enable the rehabilitation. The District's <br />ternporary inability to release augmentation water from the Reservoir to replace out-of-priority <br />depletions from wells near the Slate River could injure the Board's Slate River instream flow water <br />right, which is decreed for 23 cfs from April I-November 30 and 12 cfs from December I-March <br />31 and extends from the confluence with Coal Creek to the confluence with the East River. A letter <br />from John McClow on behalf of the District transmitting this request and a map of the subject area <br />are attached to this memo. <br /> <br />Backl!round <br /> <br />In May 2005, the Division 4 Water Court entered a decree in Case Nos. 03CWI07 and 02CW294 <br />approving the District's plan for augmentation that provides for replacement of out-of-priority <br />depletions by wells in the Slate, East and Gurmison River basins with water released from Meridian <br />Lake Reservoir, which the District was under contract to purchase. The Board had approved the <br />District's injury with mitigation proposal to resolve these cases at its July 2004 meeting and entered into <br />a stipulation with the District incorporating that proposal. The stipulation and decree acknowledge that <br />the District cannot replace all out-of-priority depletions in the winter months because releases from the <br />Reservoir will freeze at and below the outlet works, and any released water must pass through Meridian <br />Lake Park Reservoir, which normally freezes over during winter. To mitigate injury during the winter <br />months, the decree provides that the CWCB may request releases from Meridian Lake Reservoir at any <br />time from October I through April 30 when conditions would permit the releases to flow to the affected <br />ISF reach, in specified amounts ("winter mitigation release"). <br /> <br />The District completed its purchase of the Reservoir on August 15, 2005 with the intention of <br />rehabilitating the Reservoir to provide access to an additional 175 acre-feet of decreed live storage that <br />could not be released using the existing outlet works. The rehabilitation work includes replacement of <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />Flood Protection. Water Supply Planning and Finance. Stream and Lake Protection <br />Water Supply Protection. Conservation and Drought Planning <br />