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gjsentinel.com I news ooof}tb:t' ooo88?- 00 \l818 'PJase-f1ow filings were for 225,000 acre-feet negligent in a year in the Yampa River and 868,000 a year December deaths, in the 15-mile reach. !~~~s:~nts a dime plus penalty fees . Babv sitter charged as accompliee to crime The recovery flows claims were for all unclaimed peak spring runoff in the two rivers, minus annual "carve-outs" of 400,000 acre-feet in the Colorado River and 124,000 acre-feet in the Yampa. The carve-outs would allow for future water development in the two basins. Back to News PaQe An acre-foot is equal to 325,851 gallons, and average flows in the 15-mile reach total 2.1 million acre-feet a year. State officials had originally hoped that the instream flow filings would show a good faith effort by the state to help recover the four endangered fish species native to the Colorado River. But last spring, growing opposition to the flows from water users led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to back away from the instream filings as a solution. Early on, Fish and Wildlife officials said the carve-outs were so large that the water rights were ineffective. Later, they acknowledged that widespread opposition from water users would make it nearly impossible to win water court approval for the filings. On Thursday, the debate focused on whether to drop all four filings or retain some. In a policy turnaround, Henry Maddux, director of the Endangered Fish Recovery Program for the Fish and Wildlife Service, urged the state board to retain all the filings for the time being. He said the large recovery flows probably won't be needed, but the base flows could be valuable, and it would be unfortunate to lose the 1995 priority date. Eric Wilkinson, manager of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, one of the largest Front Range diverters of Western Slope water, called on the water board to keep the base flows, but toss the recovery flows. Consultant Tom Pitts, speaking on behalf of many water users, said an informal survey he conducted showed little support for the recovery flows, and ambivalence on the base flows. David Hallford, attorney for the Colorado River Water Conservation District, advocated withdrawing all four water claims. If the Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't see value in the claims, then water users gain no credit by supporting them, he said, Peter Evans, acting director of the state water board, agreed with hnp:/ /www.gjsentinel.comlnews/1999/01/29waterl.html Page 2 oD 2/1/99