Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br />efforts were focused on acquisition and conversion of existing consumptive and <br />'conditional water rights to instream flows. However in 1994. the State <br />legislature amended the State's instream flow law to prevent the conversion of <br />conditional water rights to instream flows, except in the Yampa River Basin. <br />In addition. the Board developed a policy that it would only consider <br />converting existing water rights to instream flows as a last resort option. <br /> <br />Since 1989. an enormous amount of time and effort have been devoted by a <br />variety of parties. including the Board, the Service and its attorney. water <br />users. and the Nature Conservancy to develop the legal. policy and technical <br />foundation for instream water rights filings in Colorado. Major instream flow <br />studies were funded by the Recovery Program for the Colorado and Yampa Rivers. <br />These studies culminated in flow recommendations by the Service. which were <br />subjected to an exhaustive independent technical review (GURU I). The legal <br />and institutional issues associated with acquiring water rights for the fish <br />were evaluated by a group of Program participant lead by the University of <br />Colorado at Denver (GURU II). This process ultimately resulted in a formal <br />Board policy on instream flow water rights for the fish. In addition. the <br />Board conducted a series of workshops throughout western Colorado to determine <br />how to allocate States Compact entitlement among the various tributaries in <br />Colorado. <br /> <br />In December 1995, the Board filed for instream flow rights in the IS-mile <br />reach of the Colorado River and the Yampa River from Craig. Colorado <br />downstream to the 'confluence of the Little Snake River. The water rights for <br />the Colorado and Yampa rivers include: 1) ~ base flow right that is designed <br />to protect a minimum base flow throughout the year. and 2) a recovery flow <br />right that is designed primarily to protect peak spring flows and the natural <br />variability in river flows. The total size of these rights was to be based on <br />1) endangered fish flow recommendations developed by the Service, 2) the <br />physical availability of water in the river. and 3) information on how the <br />water rights would affect the State's ability to develop its compact <br />entitlement. The Board included two provisions in the filing to ensure that <br />the rights would not interfere with the State's development of their compact <br />entitlement. One provision is a "carve-out." which was supposed to be the <br />amount of water that would not be filed upon because it was needed for <br />development in the foreseeable future. The second provision was a modifiable <br />component that allows the Board to modify the right up to a certain amount to <br />accommodate full compact development. For the Colorado River. the carve-out <br />is 100,000 acre-feet and the modifiable component is an additional 300.000 <br />acre-feet. <br />