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<br /><0(" ..,. <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />PROPOSALS TO EXPORT WATER <br />FROM TIlE TAYLOR RIVER IN GUNNISON COUNTY <br />by <br />Keith Kepler, Assistant Division Engineer, Division IV, Montrose <br /> <br />Two separate proposals seek to export water <br />from the Taylor River to the metropolitan <br />Denver area. The Taylor River drains an area <br />west of the Continental Divide into Taylor <br />Park and the Taylor Park Reservoir (elevation <br />9,330 feet) which is owned and operated by <br />the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users <br />Association. The reservoir has a capacity of <br />106,000 acre-feet. The Taylor River below the <br />reservoir discharges about 144,000 acre-feet <br />annually which flows into the East River at <br />Almont to become the Gunnison River. <br /> <br />AURORA'S APPUCATION <br /> <br />The City of Aurora filed applicatiou for <br />conditional water rights, storage rights and a <br />plan for augmentation or exchange in the <br />Division IV Water Court on April 29, 1986 <br />(86CW37), This proposal seeks a reservoir <br />directly above Taylor Park Reservoir to be <br />known as Pieplant Reservoir (80,000 acre-feet). <br />This reservoir would capture water from the <br />Taylor River, Pieplant Creek and Texas Creek. <br />A 280 cfs tunnel would carry stored water into <br />the Arkansas Basin where it would be <br />siphoned under the Arkansas River and <br />carried by a second tunnel to Antero <br />Reservoir. The claimed appropriation date is <br />April 28, 1986. A second reservoir, Almont <br />(57,700 acre-feet), would be constructed on the <br />East River to make water available to <br />downstream water rights in exchange for out of <br />priority storage and diversion at Pieplant <br />Reservoir. <br /> <br />ARAPAHOE COUNTY-NECO <br />APPUCATION <br /> <br />Arapahoe County was recently substituted as <br />the applicant for a proposal originally put <br />forth by Natural Energy Resources Company <br /> <br />(NECO). NECO's involvement began with a <br />December 14, 1982 application for a 325,000 <br />acre-foot pumped storage facility (Union Park <br />Reservoir) located south of Taylor Park <br />Reservoir. This facility would be filled from a <br />collection ditch and water pumped up from <br />Taylor Park Reservoir and would be used <br />purely as a peaking hydro-electric facility; no <br />water would be diverted from the basin. A <br />stipulated decree in 82CW340 granted a <br />conditional water right for the peaking facility. <br />A change in size and location, as well as a <br />relocation of part of the conditional storage <br />right to Rocky Point Reservoir, was allowed in <br />85CW96. <br /> <br />In 1986 (86CW37) NECO sought to change <br />the use of conditional rights and sought to <br />export water from the Taylor River Basin to <br />the east slope. Water captured in Union Park <br />Reservoir would be diverted through a tunnel <br />to the Arkansas Basin and ultimately into the <br />South Platte Basin for municipal use. This <br />application called for the 450 cfs Union Park- <br />Antero conduit and an enlarged (900,000 acre- <br />foot) Union Park Reservoir which would hold <br />a three-year supply for diversion. The <br />application included a contract with Parker <br />Water and Sanitation District to supply 1,000 <br />acre-feet per year and with the City of <br />Gunnison for an in-basin supply of 2,000 acre- <br />feet per year. The application requested <br />relation back to the 1982 decree and <br />appropriation dates. <br /> <br />UPPER GUNNISON RIVER WATER <br />CONSERVANCY DISTRICf IN-BASIN <br />RECREATION AND FLOW USES <br /> <br />The Upper Gunnison River Water <br />Conservancy District filed for additional rights <br />