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~ n: ~:'" "jIIII 1 () ,J",- j /. J; ,~ COLORADO RIVER COMPACT WATER DEVELOPMENT PROJECTION, November 2, 1f)95 FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Page 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The CWCB informally convened the ad hoc Endangered Fish Flow and Colorado River Compact Water Development Workgroup ("Workgroup") to assist in estimating. and protecting the future uses of Colorado's unused compact apportiomne~t in the Colorado River Basin and to assure that the people of Colorado are not deprived of the beneficial use of those waters available by law and interstate compact. The Workgroup assisted and provided the CWCB input on how much water can be appropriated for endangered fish recovery instrean1 flow purposes within the various sub-basins of the Colorado River basin in Colorado without impairing Colotat!o's ability to fully develop its compact apportioned waters. However, the observations mid recommendations contained in this report are not intended to interpret the provisions of die Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact and other provisions o(the "Law of die Colorado River," the Colorado Constitution or other laws of the state of Colorado with respect to water rights or their administration in Colorado. The workgroup first established ground rules and a process for undertaking this assignment. 'f11e workgroup then reviewed; 1) the key documents relating to the "Law of the Colorado River", 2) Colorado River basin hydrology within the state (10.8 MAF), 3) Colorado's compact apportiomnent under various interpretations of the "Law of the Coloradl:> River" and the 'wide variation in hydrologic conditions (between 3.079 and 3.855 MAF); 4) Colorado's curtent consumptive uses of water (2.6 MAF maximum adjusted); and 5) die remaining compact apportiomnent again given the uncertainties of the law and variations in' hydrology (bet)>.reen .45 MAF and 1.2 MAF at minimum). The workgroup then considered ia variety of alternatives for distributing Colorado's remaining compact apportiomnent among the seven major subbasin's within Colorado. These Cbnsiderations are described and discussed in this report. This report has been reviewed by the workgroup on two occasions. In addition, it has also undergone a peer review for technical accuracy. These reviews resulted in only minor editorial changes, primarily for improved clarity. There were no substantive changes made to the report. The Workgroup's recommended approach for distributing Colorado's remaining compact apporponment among the seven major tributaries is described in Table 4. In reviewing Table 4, the Workgroup wishes to emphasize the following observations: A. We have not recommended any specific distribution to any particular subbasin; nor have we specifically recognized any particular water rights. Rather, we have established a recommended tange of development allowance for each subbasin as described in Table 4. The upper limit of these ranges allows upto 3.855 MAF of total consumption from the Colorado River Basin by distributing up to one-half of the remaining compact apportioned waters needed to reach the 3.079 MAF level of development to each of the seven major subbasins but only to the extent that water is physically available for appropriation. The lower limit of our recommended ranges is based upon the lower estimate of Colorado's apportiomnent(Le., 3.079 MAF), and distributes the state's approximately 450,000 acre feef of remaining apportiomnent among the seven major subbasins based on the proportionate " i '"1