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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intended to be maintained primarily by releases from Green Mountain and Ruedi
Reservoirs. Blue Mesa Reservoir is being discussed as an additional source of
water if the supply from the other reservoirs is insufficient. The instream
flow requirement at Westwater is still under study. It was therefore
considered premature to model releases from Blue Mesa Reservoir for this
purpose and this potential demand on Gunnison Basin water was not modeled.

3.6 TREATMENT OF CONDITIONAL WATER RIGHTS DECREES

A large number of conditional water rights decrees have been adjudicated
in the Gunnison Basin. It is reasonable to assume that some of these decrees
wi 11 be perfected to some degree in the future, but that others wi 11 not.
Based on the future water demand forecasts developed during the study, on
di scussions with members of the Technical Steering and Advi sory Committees,
and on professional judgement, a list of conditional decrees to be included in
the model was developed. Omission of conditional water rights from the list
carries no legal implication regarding those rights. In fact, there are many
reasons why a water supplier might legitimately maintain diligence on
condit i ona 1 water rights in amounts greater than i ncl uded in thi s study's
model. These reasons include but are not limited to the following:

o The water suppl ier may not have confidence in the reliabil ity or
longevity of its present water supply system and may be considering
the implementation of a new type of system. Furthermore, it may be
difficult to obtain changes in its present decrees to support the
new system. An example would be the conversion of a groundwater
system that is presently experiencing water quality or water table
drawdown problems to a surface water storage system.

o The water supp 1 i er could have condit i onal decrees that may prove
difficult to perfect in their present form but the possibil ity of
transferring them to some other project, other uses, or other
purpose may be feasible.