BOARD01120

• Board Meeting Date: 2/13/2001
• Description: Recreational In-Channel Diversions
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Other

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Colorado Water Conservation Board

_epartment of Natural Resources
. 3 I.} Sherman Saeec, Room 721
enver, CoLorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.scate.CQ,llS

STATE OF COLORADO

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Bill Owens
Governor

January 31, 2001

Greg E. Walcher
Executive Director

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

Dan McAuliffe
Acting Director

Mayor Jan Schenck
City of Golden
911 Tenth Street
Golden, CO 80401
By facsimile [phone]
(original to follow by mail)

Dear Mr. Mayor Schenck:

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Thank you for your letter of January 24,2001 regarding the City of Golden's
appropriation in Case No. 98CW448, Division No.1. In that letter you requested that my Board
withdraw our opposition to your water rights application. I must decline to withdraw our
opposition- to your application, in its existing fonn, at this time. You incorrectly state that the
CWCB may not favor recreational diversions, that is not true. Rather, the CWCB's opposition to
Golden's application stems from the facts that your application fails to meet the narrow
exception under the Fort Collins case, and because we believe your application seeks water rights
in an amount in excess of the amount of the water that is reasonable and appropriate under
reasonably efficient practices to accomplish without waste the purpose for which the
appropriation is lawfully made.

I recognize that both the City of Golden and the CWCB have obligations to spend its
public monies wisely. I take that obligation seriously, however, the City, through its attorney,
has rejected our settlement discussions at every juncture. We have been told that the 1000 c.f.s.
appropriation is "non-negotiable" even though that amount of water may be more water than is
necessary to accomplish Golden's purposes, and even though the 1000 c.f.s. amount has occurred
less than 1% of the time in May and less than 5% in July. Moreover, the City has insisted on
vigorously pursuing this application through the Court system; thus, short-circuiting discussions
that could resolve these matters through negotiation.

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Flood Protection. Water Project Planning and Financing. Stt'eam iUld Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation Planning