BOARD00863

• Board Meeting Date: 3/29/1999
• Description: WSP Section - Colorado River Basin Issues - 15-Mile Reach ESA Section 7 Consultation - Status Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Agreement For The Interim Provision Of Water
To The 15-Mile Reach Of The Colorado River
Page 3 of 8

Plan of Development, the United States Department of Defense Army
Corps of Engineers' Section 404 Permit, or the Grand County Special Use
Permit. During the term of this agreement, some Eastern Slope
beneficiaries of the PBO may elect to use other sources available to them
for providing their portion of the 5,412.5 acre-feet. If an Eastern Slope
beneficiary of the PBO elects to use another source, it will be that entity's
responsibility to assure that all legal and regulatory requirements are
satisfied. For every 1 acre-foot an Eastern Slope beneficiary of the PBO
elects to deliver from another source, Denver Water's commitment to
provide 5,412.5 acre-feet per year will be reduced by 1 acre-foot.
2. Denver Water will retain the ability to use existing water rights and
priority dates to refill the space in its reservoirs vacated by the release of
the 5,412.5 acre-feet of water.
3. Denver Water will enter into separate agreements with other Eastern
Slope beneficiaries of the PBO under which Denver Water will be
reimbursed, on a pro-rated basis, for any power revenues lost as a result of
releasing the 5,412.5 acre-feet of water.

C. Reliability of the 10,825 Acre-Feet During a Drought

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1. During some drought conditions, the 10,825 acre-feet of interim water
contemplated in this agreement may be reduced or eliminated due to
hydrology conditioIfs beyond the control of the parties. To the extent a
reservoir operator decides to reduce the delivery of the 10,825 acre-feet in a
drought year, the percent of reduction of the 10,825 acre.feet will not be
any more or less than the percent reduction requested by the reservoir
owners from other beneficiaries of that reservoir.
2. Denver Water reserves the right to reduce releases of the 5,412.5 acre-feet
of water contemplated by this Agreement whenever water use restrictions
are applied to all users within Denver Water's Combined Service Area.
Water use restrictions include voluntary restriction programs designed to
reduce total (as opposed to peak) water demand. The percentage by which
releases are reduced below 5,412.5 acre-feet will equal the target use
reductions for various levels of drought as described in Denver Water's
July 1997 ''Drought Response Plan." .
3. The River District reserves the right to reduce releases of the 5,412.5 acre.
feet of water contemplated by this Agreement in the event of a drought
affecting Ruedi and/or Wolford Mountain reservoirs. A drought at Ruedi
Reservoir is defined as a hydrologic condition forcing the Bureau of
Reclamation to reduce the water available pursuant to its water contracts
from the Regulatory Pool. A drought at Wolford Mountain Reservoir is
defined as a condition where: (i) the Weather Service's May 1st estimate of