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1 -.Is•,> • - i '.. . , `'r , APPENDIX B OPERATSNG AGREEMENT THIS AGREEMENT is made by and between Conejos Water Conservancy District (the "District") and the State Engineer of the State of Colorado and Colorado's Commissioner to the Rio Grande Compact Commission ("State Engineer"). WHEREAS, pursuant to statute and its organizational decree, the District represents the water users•of the Conejos River, including its tributaries, the San Antonio River and the Los Pinos River (the "water u5ers"); and WHEREAS, the District has exclusive responsibility for operation and maintenance of Platoro Dam and Reservoir (the "Reservoir"), and is the sole beneficiary of the Reservoir except for flood control benefits; and WHEREAS, water users suffer large curtailment5 in diversions by reason of adminiatration o� water rights to assure compliance with delivery obligations under the Rio Grande Compact; and WHEREAS, the District reCOgnizes that the State of Colo�ado has a di£ficult task in administering the Rio Grande and the Conejos systems so as to meet the obligation imposed by the Rio Grande Compact; WHEREAS, the District reCOgnizes that the use of available space in the Reservoir for the storage of wateXS that would otherwise be sent to the Colorado-New Mexico state line and which may be in excess of the obligation imposed by the Rio Grende Compact would aid the State of Colorado in minimizinq over- deliveries under the Compact, and corre5pondingly allow for the maximum delivery of water £or beneficial use in Colorado; and WHEREAS, pursuant to Senate Bill 87-15 and House Bill 91-1006, the Colorado General Assembly has expressed its desire that a portion of the Reservoir's storage capacity be utilized to meet Colorado's obligatipns under the Rio Grande Compact, and to maximize the use of the Compact-allocated waters in Colorado; and WHEREAS, the Colorado General Assembly has appropriated funds to the Colorado Water Conservation Board ConstruCtion Fund to assist the District in obtaining a permanent transfer of authority over Platoro Reservoir. No funds from this appropriation shall be expended, except $50,000 for development of an operational model of the Reservoir, until the State Engineer certifies to the Colorado Water Conservation Board that an operatinq agreement satisfactory to him for the State's use of Che Reservoir for Compact purposes has been agreed upon; and