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'Q41rf...." . lOll .. . .. ....00.,." . WRIGHT WATER ENGINEER.C, ........,.. II ......(;...t ....1........... 1..0..... ENGINEERING CONSULTA,...TS ~......ooo .....'.....1 0"''';' "'.0.011,.. GI......OOg ....,..00... eOl-o..ao 1'10' 2...30 ALCOTT STR[I!:T Dr.......I[IIII. COI..O""'OO .O:Z'I tao:1J .......10. .'.....0..' 0....'1:. ".0.10" Iln .T.......O.., ""1.....<0.. 1:01..0.....00 ..... Oct. 9, 1974 Glenwood Springs John Musick A tto rney a t Law P.O. Box 871 Boulder, Colorado 80302 Joseph Edwards, Chairman Board of County Commissioners County of Pi tkin P.O. Box 4096 Aspen, Colorado 81611 Dear John and Joe, Re: Colorado River Transbasin Diversionsand Water Qual ity I have just received copies of the letters you recently wrote protesting the use of exported Colorado River Basin water for water quality dilution purposes on the eastern slope. Summarized below are some of the more readily available facts on the matter for your use. According to the Fryingpan-Arkansas Draft Environmental State- ment, the project ".. .wi II deplete the Colorado River Bas in of 70,000 acre feet of high qual ity water annually, which will increase the salinity of the Colorado River by 8 - 12 ppm at Cameo, Colorado, and 4 ppm at Lees Ferry, Arizona." From this statement, .stream flow records, some U.S. Bureau of Reclamation studies, and summation of projected transbasin diversions, interesting and significant con- clusions are developed. The most recent U.S. Geological Survey Records (19.71-1972 water year} shows that 467,900 acre feet of Colorado River Basin water within Colorado were exported to the South Platte, Arkansas and Rio Grande River Basins. This amount is equal to about 9'G of the annual virgin Colorado River yield in Colorado. (Annual virgin flow, inclu- ding the 1,700,000 acre feet from the Gunnison River, is estir;-ated to be 5,260,000 acr. feet by the 1965 reDort titl.~ '~ater and Pclated Land Re.source:; ColoraJo River Basin in CoJ0r2::c..I' 0'1' tr.~ Cciorado Water Conservation Board and the U,S. Depr. of hgriculturc,) Transbasin diversions from the Roaring Fork totalled 22,500 acre feet during the 1972 water year. The virgin yield of the Roaring Fork basin at Glen'o'/ood Springs is around 100,000 acre feet.. Thus, the Roaring Fork currently loses about 8% of its water to transbasin diversion, while only about 5% of the Roaring Fork water is consump- tively used in the Roaring Fork Basin.