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<br />conditions under which water in the HUP may be surplus to the needs ofHUP beneficiaries in <br />western Colorado. <br /> <br />In addition, the Settlement provided for delivering surplus HUP water to the Grand Valley Power <br />Plant and to other beneficial uses in western Colorado that would result in augmenting flows in <br />the 15 Mile Reach. The Check Settlement also established a group of entities with whom <br />Reclamation consults in managing releases of surplus water from the HUP. The group of entities <br />and Reclamation are collectively known as the "HUP Managing Entities" and includes <br />representatives from the following organizations: <br /> <br />U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) <br />Grand Valley Water Users Association (GVWUA) <br />Orchard Mesa Irrigation District (aMID) <br />Grand Valley Irrigation Company (GVIC) <br />Colorado Division of Water Resources, Division 5 <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) <br />U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) <br /> <br />In addition to surplus HUP water from Green Mountain Reservoir, the 5,000 plus 5,000 acre-feet <br />from Ruedi Reservoir, and the 3,000 acre-teet from Wolford Mountain Reservoir, the following <br />additional sources of water became available to assist in augmenting 15 Mile Reach flows for the <br />endangered fish: <br /> <br />In 1998, Reclamation made 21,650 acre-feet of water available from the regulatory capacity in <br />Ruedi Reservoir through a one-year lease agreement with the Service and CWCB. The <br />Recovery Program agreed to reimburse Reclamation $61,919 for the operation, maintenance and <br />replacement costs for the 21,650 acre-feet of water. <br /> <br />On January 20, 1998, the Service completed a new biological opinion with the River District on <br />Wolford Mountain Reservoir which made an additional 3,000 acre-feet of storage capacity <br />available to the Service for flow augmentation in the Reach. The additional capacity was made <br />available when the River District recalculated flood parameters at the reservoir and increased the <br />size of the active storage pool. <br /> <br />Beginning in 1998, the HUP Managing Entities implemented a program of managing releases of <br />surplus water from the HUP. Based upon experience gained in 1994, the Managing Entities <br />recognized that a greater benefit could be gained by coordinating the HUP releases with the <br />releases for endangered fish from Ruedi and Wolford Mountain reservoirs. The settlement of the <br />Check case provides for regular meetings or conference calls to assess the condition of the HUP <br />surplus and determine surplus releases. The River District was invited to join the effort so that <br />releases for endangered fish from Wolford could be coordinated with those from Ruedi and any <br />surplus from the Green Mountain HUP. <br /> <br />A-3 <br />