FLOOD01459

• County: Gunnison
• Community: Uncompahgre Valley
• Title: Upper Gunnison-Uncompahgre Basin Phase 1 Feasibility Study Summary Report
• Date: 5/1/1989
• Prepared For: Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority
• Prepared By: HDR Engineering, Inc.
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Project

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in the model. Decrees which are located on small headwaters streams where
they woul d not have any impact on exi st ing or proposed water development
projects were not modeled.

There are several privately held instream flow decrees in the Upper
Gunnison basin. The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) holds a group
of non-consumptive instream flow and minimum lake level rights upstream of
Gothic on the East River and its tributaries. The CWCB also holds instream
flow rights on some of the same stream reaches. These rights were not modeled
since they are located upstream of any existing or proposed developments
considered in the study and therefore will not affect or be affected by
potential development plans considered in the study.

The Taylor Park Pool Association (composed of local ranchers and
landowners in the Taylor Park area) hold non-consumptive water rights on the
Taylor Ri ver and its tri butaries from Lotti s Creek upstream. These water
rights have been adjudicated but their legal status is somewhat unclear since
C.R.S. 37-92-102(3) implies that only the State is empowered to appropriate
water for i nstream flows. Furthermore, because these decrees are pri vately
held, the possibility exists that they could be sold or ~bandoned. The legal
issues involved in such a sale or abandonment are not well defined. Despite
these uncerta i nt i es, it was decided that the pri vate ly hel d decrees located
where future water development coul d be impacted shoul d be i ncl uded in the
model since they have been adjudicated. The decrees included in the model are
listed in Table 3.1.

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