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<br />proposing at this time to buy MVIC's surplus water (approximately 6-8000 acre feet) and . <br />deliver it to 1S-20 farmers, approximately One half of whom are not irrigating at all <br />today. There is no timeline in the Feasibility Study regarding the District taking action to <br />make water available for the fishery. <br /> <br />Studv. Because of Trout Unlimited's interest in the Dolores, we teamed with <br />Environmental Defense to hire an independent consultant to assess water availability in <br />the area. Hydrosphere conducted the study for us. Copies of the report are attached to <br />this statement. <br /> <br />Hydrosphere concluded that, while Project water is fully allocated, there is a substantial <br />amount of both Project water and non-Project water stored in McPhee Reservoir that is <br />currently unused. Hydrosphere did several different analyses. First, they looked at <br />water availability. Here, they concluded that there is water available from both municipal <br />and agricultural sources. Municipal and industrial use is only a fraction of the original <br />allocation. A maximum of23% of the total M&I allocation has ever been used in one <br />year, and only since 1994; 7120 acre-feet are currently available. Even with spectacular <br />growth, much of this water will continue to be available into the foreseeable future. . <br /> <br />As to water available from agricultural allocations, Hydrosphere concluded that just the <br />water saved through salinity control efficiency measures (installation of sprinkler systems <br />and canal lining) may be as much as 17,000 acre feet. However, Hydrosphere perforin- <br />at least five different analyses comparing irrigated acreages, water demand figures for .. <br />different agricultural users and actual water usage to confirm that McPhee stores 'or's <br />a substantial amount of unused agricultural water, both for Project and non-Project 'c: <br />sources. Sources for this water include differences between proposed and actual irrigated <br />acreage and savings from water conservation that occurred as a result of canal lining, .. <br />installation of piping and sprinklers and implementation of a call system. <br /> <br /> <br />Second, Hydrosphere ran a reservoir model to assess how adding 3300 acre-feet annually <br />to the fish pool would affect other water users. This model looked at actual usage for <br />1990-1999 (which represents the highest usage for the period of record) and modeled this <br />usage over the course of the 1922-1999 historic record, as if McPhee had been in place <br />the entire time. The model results confirm that as much as 55,115 acre feet of water <br />could be released annually for the downstream fishery-more than 18,000 acre feet <br />above the target fishery pool-without limiting traditional water users' current (i.e., <br />highest historic levels of) diversions. Again, assuming that the cities will grow (although <br />it is unlikely that both municipal and agricultural demand grow), there is more than <br />enough water in the system to add the 3300 acre feet to the fish pool that would satisfy <br />the biologists, and at the same time preserve the agricultural open space that dominates <br />this area of the state. <br /> <br />The conclusion Trout Unlimited draws from Hydrosphere's report is that there are <br />thousands of acre-feet of water now available in McPhee Reservoir to satisfy many <br />current unmet needs. McPhee Reservoir is the Water for Everyone Today (not <br />tomorrow) Package solution that the District seeks. It is possible to solve the fish pool <br /> <br />e, <br /> <br /> <br />2 <br />