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<br />"'UOO{l1~ <br /><,,' <br /> <br />March 12, 1991 <br /> <br />FACf SHEET <br /> <br />GUNNISON RIVER BASIN WATER MANAGEMENT & PLANNING PROJECf <br /> <br />PROJECf ORIGINS <br /> <br />The history of water administration in the Gunnison River Basin can be divided into <br />three distinct eras. Prior to the construction of Taylor Park Reservoir in the 1930's, water <br />rights throughout the basin were administered according to direct-diversion priority. Senior <br />demands by the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users (UVWUA) on the Uncompahgre River <br />and on the Gunnison at the Gunnison Tunnel forced curtailment of junior rights during <br />the latter part of every irrigation season. After Taylor Park Reservoir was made available <br />to UVWUA, stored water could be released to meet their late-season demands which <br />remained even after curtailing junior rights. The Division Engineer was responsible for <br />making sure no junior rights continued to divert while UVWUA was receiving its storage <br />release. Any juniors who continued to divert were stealing storage water. This system of <br />administration continued until the Aspinall Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project <br />(Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal Reservoirs) were built in the 1960's, <br /> <br />Presence of the three large reservoirs between Taylor Park Reservoir and the <br />Gunnison Tunnel made it possible for UVWUA to receive their late-season water from <br />Blue Mesa instead of Taylor Park. This avoided the difficulty in policing their releases <br />over many miles and past many junior headgates. The Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), <br />operating the Aspinall Unit, no longer insisted on curtailment of junior rights, and <br />absorbed the loss in storage which had been so important to UVWUA. By not asking for <br />administration of the water released from Taylor Park Reservoir before it reached Blue <br />Mesa, USBR was allowing water rights junior to the Gunnison Tunnel the free use of Blue <br />Mesa and/or Taylor Park storage by exchange. By an agreement signed in 1975 (and <br />confirmed in a recent water court decision), the Upper Gunnison River Water <br />Conservancy District (UGRWCD) solidified the part of this historic exchange involving <br />Taylor Park Reservoir, although the method for final accounting for beneficial uses under <br />the exchange is still under development. USBR has continued to supply free exchange <br />water to rights junior to UVWUA's Gunnison Tunnel, in spite of the lack of any decree <br />or agreement which requires them to continue the practice. <br /> <br />The National Park Service is expected to announce a quantification of a federal <br />reserved water right for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument soon. It will <br />have an administrative priority date of 1937, and can be expected to impact all junior <br />