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<br />There were many comments concerning hydrology and w~ter rights. They centered around the <br />themes of how the contract would affect present and future water rights and uses and how the <br />contract would protect water in the Black Canyon. <br /> <br />At the public meetings in Gunnison, the question was raised on how shortages in water supply <br />would be shared during dry water years (i.e. fish and hydropower should share) and whether <br />annual variations in snowpack would be considered. The effect of future snowmaking operations <br />on the contract and vice versa should be considered. The overall effect of water deliveries on <br />Upper Gunnison aquifers, wells, and wetlands needs to be considered in relation to the changed <br />manner in which water rights would be administered. Plans to lower Blue. Mesa Reservoir to <br />reduce icing, followed by plans for high spring flows and bypasses may cause Blue Mesa not <br />to fill under the contract. <br /> <br />At the Gunnison meeting, it was suggested that the premise be established that the contract not <br />impact instream rights, the 1975 Exchange Agreement between Taylor Park and Blue Mesa, and <br />existing water uses. The study should specifically assess impacts on instream flows in the Upper <br />Gunnison Basin and the contract should not impact upstream users with additional water calls <br />related to the Black Canyon or Aspinall Unit. The contract should exempt small domestic and <br />commercial wells in the Upper Gunnison Basin from "water calls." <br /> <br />CREDA requested that effects on downstream water rights be covered and also requested that <br />the relationship between the contract and water calls be described. <br /> <br />The Non-Federal Parties to the 1975 Exchange Agreement (UVWUA, UGRWCD, and CRWCD) <br />suggested that the contract should properlydefme the nature of the conditions placed on Aspinall <br />Unit operations by the water right decrees in effect for the Aspinall Unit, the assignment of <br />those water rights to the United States from the CRWCD in 1963, the agreement under which <br />60,000 acre-feet of upstream depletions are anticipated by post-Aspinall projects upstream of <br />Crystal Dam, and the interests of all the parties to the 1975 Exchange Agreement. <br /> <br />The NPCA stated that the most demanding element of the NEPA analysis will be clearly <br />presenting the current water supply situation and impacts and consequences of each alternative. <br />Some of the information that needs to be provided includes historic inflow to Blue Mesa, <br />historic diversions through the Gunnison Tunnel, and pre- and post-Aspinall Unit diversions by <br />the Redlands Diversion Dam near Grand Junction. Information should also include whether a <br />300 cfs minimum flow through the Black Canyon and Gunnison Gorge is sufficient to cover <br />water needs of all senior water right holders in the Lower Gunnison Basin except the Redlands <br />and Uncompahgre Project diversions, and a tabulation, by alternative, on how much water would <br />be available to the Black Canyon during dry, normal, and wet years. <br /> <br />Montrose Partners, sponsors of the AB Lateral Hydropower Project, stressed that priority be <br />given to hydrology studies since environmental and social impacts will be related to changes in <br />hydrology. Specifically, effects on water supply of releases to the Black Canyon should be <br />determined at an early stage. <br /> <br />26 <br />