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<br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />with that particular district. We are projecting that to be completed <br />and those water rights granted somewhere around July of this particular <br />year. Mr. Kuiper has been working very closely with the district's <br />lawyer, and they are proceeding and doing the work on it. I'm sorry I <br />can't give you an exact update, because I have not been in contact with <br />Mr. Wham, who is their lawyer. So I don't know the exact status; I do <br />know they are working on it. <br /> <br />MR. VANDEMOER: What is the capacity of the canal in second feet? <br /> <br />MR. MACH: The maximum capacity down here at the outlet (indicating) <br />will be between 8 and 900 cfs, cubic feet per second. <br /> <br />MR. VANDEMOER: You're going to build it full sized even though you just <br />go to 1-2? <br /> <br />MR. MACH: Yes, because of the location, initial construction will be <br />to full size. If something occurs and we don't proceed, we will have a <br />large ditch without much water flowing down it. But we feel we have to <br />take that risk. The cost of rebuilding and expanding a ditch is terrible. <br /> <br />MR. FETCHER: Can you explain how this project will benefit agriculture? <br /> <br />MR. MACH: It has very widespread benefits, not only to Colorado but <br />also to Texas and New Mexico. As you are well aware, Texas and New <br />Mexico filed a suit against the State of Colorado saying that they were <br />not meeting the requirements of the Rio Grande Compact. The situation, <br />as it stands now, the State Engineer is forced to greatly restrict the <br />use of water in this particular area in order to allow ColoradO to meet <br />its Compact requirements. The first 60,000 acre-feet of the hundred <br />thousand acre-feet to be delivered on an average to the river is for the <br />benefit of ColoradO to allow it to help meet its Compact requirements. <br />So what this does then is that it allows the State Engineer to substi- <br />tute Closed Basin water for water that he would normally have to shut <br />off in other areas in the Closed Basin region. So he can allow those <br />people to again begin to use their water as substitute for that up to <br />60,000 acre-feet of Closed Basin water. <br /> <br />I'm always using the term "average." The Act is set up that this is <br />based on a 10-year running average. In anyone year, the actual water <br />delivered to the river may vary from 10,000 acre-feet up to 200,000 acre- <br />feet, depending on the hydrologic conditions of that particular year. <br />So all of these computations are based on a 10-year average. <br /> <br />NOW, the 40,000 acre-feet above the 60 that we deliver a total of <br />100,000 acre-feet would then be used by the state of ColoradO to repay <br />its alleged indebtedness to the Rio Grande Compact states of Texas and <br />New Mexico. <br /> <br />MR. STAPLETON: Maybe I can ask the Attorney General what the status of <br />that litigation is. <br /> <br />MR. MacFARLANE: Right now, the rules and regulations or the Rio Grande? <br /> <br />-15- <br />