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<br />.., <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />4. <br /> <br />Severe and Prolonged Drought <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Frankly, it seems inane to have to argue about whether severe and prolonged drought conditions <br />exist, yet some state personnel have disputed the issue with regard to the 1979 contract. At the <br />risk of belaboring the obvious, we are including some evidence regarding the drought, <br />. News accounts are replete with statements from numerous officials regarding the severity <br />cfthis, the worst drought in Colorado's histo;-y. <br />. On April 24, Governor Owens requested, for the first time ever, that the entire state of <br />Colorado be declared a drought emergency area, He noted that snowpack was ata <br />historic low. <br />. On April 24, the State Climatologist stated that we are clearly ill a multiyear drought. On <br />August 16, he stated that an average snowpack will not get us out of the drought. <br />. On October 5, a researcher for CU and NOAA stated that 2002 was one of the driest, if <br />not the driest, years in 300 or more years. <br />. On October 5, the State Engineer stated that the drought in the South Platte Basin was the <br />worst since 1730, and predicted that runoff this year would be 25% ofnorrnal. <br />. Oil April 24, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources described this as beillg <br />a drought of historic proportions, On September 22, he explained that stream flows <br />throughout the state have been at all-time lows. <br />. On August 16, the chairman of the state drought task force from the CWCB explained <br />that the weather this summer transformed 2002 from an ordinary drought year into an <br />extraordinary one, <br />· Denver Water has imposed the most stringent water use restrictions in its history. <br />. Attached to this memo are two maps from national sources demonstrating that Colorado's <br />drought, as of the first week of October, is severe, extreme or exceptional. These maps <br />were used by the State Engineer in a presentation on October 10, <br /> <br />Denver Water therefore proposes to access its water in Chatfield, in a manner that impacts <br />recreation only when necessary and ties that impact to the degree of adversity imposed on <br />Denver Water's 1.2 million customers, The 1979 contract requires a reasonable drought <br />determination by the CWCB before Denver Water can take water below 5423; no determination <br />is required for Denver Water to use water between 5426 and 5423, <br /> <br />Numerous entities have provided water to the CWCB and to State Parks for instream flows and <br />recreation, respectively, most with a proviso that they can access their water in times of need. If <br />water users like Denver Water are denied the right to use their water in circumstances like this <br />summer, then no rational water user is likely to provide water to the state in the future. <br /> <br />5. Denver Water's Draw-Down Proposal <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The level to which Chatfield storage is reduced would be tied to the severity of the restrictions <br />being imposed on consumers in Denver Water's service area, Only if mandatory restrictions are <br />beillg imposed would recreation be impacted, Under Stage 2 mandatory watering restrictions, <br />the recreation pool would be full (5426) until after the Fourth of July in 2003, and Denver Water <br />would maintain the level above 5423 until after Labor Day, After Labor Day, there are two <br />alternatives: (1) Denver Water would take the pool down to 5419 (one boat ramp would remaino <br />3 <br />