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. . . Case No. 03CWJ07, Water Division 4 UPPER GUNNISON RIVER WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT Mitigation Proposal for Plan for Augmentation I. SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSAL. The Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (referred to in this proposal as the Upper Gunnison District or District) filed an Application for Approval of Plan for Augmentation' primarily to augment existing out-of-priority depletions by wells in the Slate and East River basins by providing a substitute supply of water from Meridian Lake Reservoir. The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) filed a Statement of Opposition to protect the instream flow water rights decreed to Washington Gulch in Case No. 80CW94, the Slate River in Case No.80CW92 and the East River in Cases Nos. 83CW230 and 83CW228. As explained below, substantial injury to instream flow rights presently occurring will be largely eliminated by operation of the District's plan. The Upper Gunnison District has proposed a pretrial resolution to CWCB staff which may allow some degree of injury or interference with instream flow rights in one reach of the Slate River to continue. The District has offered mitigation which it believes will enable the Board to accept the injury while continuing to preserve or improve the natural environment to a reasonable degree pursuant to Rule 8i.(3), Rules Concerning the Colorado Instream Flow and Natural Lake Level Program. A map of the Upper Gunnison District is attached as FIGURE 1. A map showing the location of Meridian Lake Reservoir is attached as FIGURE 2. II. BACKGROUND. A. Need for the Plan for AUl!:mentation. The drought which the Upper Gunnison River Basin experienced in 2002 and 2003 focused attention on the vulnerability of domestic and other water users in the basin to calls from senior irrigation water rights within the basin as well as senior water rights downstream from the Wayne N. Aspinall Unit. Even though neither the senior irrigation rights diverting from the Slate River nor the CWCB instream flow rights in the Slate River had ever placed a call when water was in short supply, it became apparent that a significant number of domestic wells diverting from the Slate River had been issued permits based on plans for augmentation which are inadequate. In some cases, the replacement water supply is based upon rights that are curtailed during dry years. In other cases, augmentation ponds were never constructed or are not functional due to sediment, inoperable outlet works or other defects. Until recently, there has been little or no follow-up to insure that the plans for augmentation were ever implemented. This problem is the result of the fact that, in the 1970s and1980s, plans for augmentation and subdivisions were approved in Gunnison County with insufficient attention from the Division of Water Resources and county government. The result of this inattention is that property owners purchased homes and lots in the mistaken belief that their homes or lots had a reliable water supply. 1 Case No. 03CWI07, Water Division 4.