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. . . ~ INTSTREAM FLOW MITIGATION PLAN BASALT WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT CASE NO. 01CW305 AND 02CW77 1.0 INTRODUCTION In Case Nos. 01CW305 and 02CW77, the Basalt Water Conservancy District (BWCD) filed water court applications for Change of Water Rights and Approval of Plan for Augmentation, Including Appropriative Rights of Exchange. The two applications were made in support of the BWCD's on-going "Operating Plan" that provides dependable legal water supplies to numerous water contractees located in portions of the Roaring Fork River and Fryingpan River basins above Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Under the Plan, water allotment contractees rely on releases from various reservoirs and direct flow water rights owned or controlled by the BWCD to augment, directly or by exchange, their individual domestic water systems and other beneficial uses. The BWCD's Operating Plan has been in existence since 1982. Figure 1 displays the BWCD's entire service area. The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) filed Statements of Opposition to both of the above-referenced water court applications claiming potential injury to various instream flow water rights in the Roaring Fork River basin. The District understands that the CWCB is specifically concerned with the District's service to contractees located above the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Fryingpan rivers within Service Area A. Contractees within this "upper" reach are augmented by exchange, because the BWCD's various direct flow and storage rights accrue to the Roaring Fork River at or below its confluence with the Fryingpan River. The CWCB has questioned whether there is adequate exchange capacity in the Roaring Fork River above its confluence with the Fryingpan River to support the BWCD appropriative exchanges in that reach. Figure 2 highlights the upper Roaring Fork River exchange reach at issue in these cases. 3