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<br />. Water Ril!:hts <br /> <br />It is estimated that the MVIC shares to be purchased for the project will yield about 6,000 <br />acre-feet per year. The MVIC water is available due to urban development in the area and <br />the expanded use of sprinkler irrigation. The water rights held by MVI C are some of the <br />most senior in the Dolores Basin. Other sources such as McPhee spills and Totten <br />Reservoir will provide the remaining 1,840 acre feet. Diversions from the Dolores River <br />will be essentially unchaIlged from the amount diverted for the last 110 years with the <br />exception of about the last ten years. <br /> <br />The CWCB has an instream flow water right of78 cubic feet per second, with a 1975 <br />priority, from below McPhee Dam to the confluence of the Dolores and San Miguel <br />rivers. The CWCB water right is junior to both the MVIC and McPhee water rights. <br /> <br />Most of the water for the instream flow originates from a fishery pool of about 29,000 <br />acre-feet in McPhee Reservoir. The proposed irrigation project will not injure the CWCB <br />water right since water for the instream flow originates in the fishery pool which will <br />continue to provide water as it has in the past. <br /> <br />Environmental Assessment and Permittinl!: <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />A carriage contract with the USBR is required for the use ofUSBR facilities to deliver <br />water for the proposed project. The Grand Junction Office of the USBR is preparing an <br />Environmental Assessment (EA) for the carriage contract decision by the Bureau. A draft <br />of the EA was issued in July 2000 and the USBR is awaiting a Biological Opinion from <br />the US Fish and Wildlife Service to conclude the EA process. <br /> <br />With regard to fish and wildlife resources, the draft EA concludes: <br /> <br />"The proposed Carriage Agreement should have little effect on fish and wildlife <br />resources. The water involved was historically used for irrigation. Over the last <br />several years the water has either been spilled from McPhee Reservoir or directed <br />down McElmo Creek. The water is private water and not available for the <br />McPhee reservoir downstream fishery pool." <br /> <br />For depletions in the Colorado River Basin the draft EA states: <br /> <br />"In conclusion, the Carriage Contract would continue the historic depletion of 6- <br />8,000 acre-feet from the Dolores River. Based on these conclusions and consistent <br />with regulations in SO CFR 402.13, the Carriage Agreement may affect <br />endangered fish species and their critical habitat in the Colorado River and the <br />depletions are addressed by existing agreements under the [Recovery <br />Implementation Program]." <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />3 <br />