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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />INCREASING COLORADO'S STORED WATER <br />SUBMITTED TO COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD <br />BY PINE RIVER IRRIGATION DISTRICT <br /> <br />SEPTEMBER 22, 1998 <br /> <br />I. Introduction <br /> <br />Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Congressman Scott Mcinnis are working <br />to transfer the Vallecito Reservoir to the Pine River Irrigation District. This transfer will <br />put Colorado into the forefront of western states which are working to acquire title and <br />control over some of the most valuable stored water in the west. The United States <br />Bureau of Reclamation has offered to transfer title to its facilities to those parties who <br />demonstrate an interest and an ability to manage their resources consistent with federal <br />and state law. <br />The Colorado Water Conservation Board should prepare and implement a <br />program to assist Irrigation and M & I entities who are poised to accept transfers from <br />the United States Bureau of Reclamation. The Conservation Board, through legislative <br />amendment or other authority, should provide financial and technical assistance to <br />encourage Colorado entities to acquire from the federal government valuable and well- <br />maintained storage and distribution facilities. <br /> <br />II. <br /> <br />Backaround of Reclamation Transfer Policv <br /> <br />Vice President AI Gore, as part of his 1995 effort to reinvent government <br />proposed that Bureau of Reclamation water storage and delivery facilities be <br />transferred to non-federal ownership. For the last two and a half years, several <br />districts - including ones in Idaho and New Mexico, and the Collbran District in <br />Colorado - unsuccessfully tried to develop a model for transfer. Given the long- <br />standing contractual relationship between the transferee District and Reclamation, the <br />parties found it difficult to find a middle ground for addressing the issues as between <br />the contracting parties and also addressing the public issues. Frequently the Districts <br />would get frustrated with Reclamation and go to Congress with a bill which asked <br />Congress, in effect, to complete the agreement they could not reach with Reclamation. <br />Not surprisingly, such approaches did not succeed. <br /> <br />III. The Vallecito Reservoir Transfer <br /> <br />Beginning in October of 1997, the Pine River Irrigation District began a <br />series of public scooping meetings to address concerns relating to a proposed transfer <br />of Vallecito Reservoir and certain lands around the reservoir. Those scoping meetings <br />were helpful in focusing the District on several issues that needed to be resolved. First <br />was the need to assure the Southern Ute Indian Tribe - which has a one fifth interest in <br />the reservoir facilities and water supply - that its interests would be protected. Under <br />the proposed bill, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe's one-fifth interest can be transferred. <br /> <br />2 <br />