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WSP06763
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Last modified
1/26/2010 2:24:16 PM
Creation date
10/12/2006 1:51:46 AM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Water Supply Protection
File Number
8446
Description
Cache La Poudre Platte Project
State
CO
Basin
South Platte
Water Division
1
Date
4/28/1986
Author
Keith Kelper
Title
Proposals to Export Wat4er From the Taylor River In Gunnison County
Water Supply Pro - Doc Type
Report/Study
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<br />,--i J <br /> <br />deficiency of the filing. <br /> <br />The Water Court's December 29, 1988 order <br />left open a very minor part of the application <br />which sought to add the uses of recreation, fish <br />propagation and reservoir evaporation to the <br />conditional in-basin power generation use <br />granted in 82CW340. The Court's judgement <br />ou the matter of speculation will be appealable <br />only after the Court euters a final judgement <br />which includes this minor part of the <br />application. Arapahoe County has reapplied <br />for the Union Park export project in case <br />88CW78 as an alternative should their <br />intended appeal of 86CW226 to the Colorado <br />Supreme Court sustain the Division IV Water <br />Court. <br /> <br />COMPETITIVE WATER RIGHTS ON THE <br />GUNNISON RIVER <br /> <br />The key water rights affecting the Gunnison <br />River are the USBR storage and power rights <br />at Blue Mesa, Morrow Point and Crystal <br />Reservoirs. Blue Mesa has a capacity of <br />940,755 acre-feet which is used to regulate the <br />river for power production through the Blue <br />Mesa, Morrow Point and Crystal power plants. <br />The downstream Morrow Point and Crystal <br />Reservoirs are kept nearly full to optimize <br />power production. Annual discharge of the <br />river at Gunnison is 560,000 acre-feet (773 cfs) <br />which flows into Blue Mesa along with inflow <br />from several small streams. The decreed <br />capacities of the Blue Mesa, Morrow Point <br />and Crystal power plants are 3500, 5450, and <br />3000 cfs, respectively. The result is that the <br />power facilities have sufficient water rights to <br />place a call which would prevent export from <br />the Upper Gunnison Basin in most years. <br /> <br />Uses within the Upper Gunnison Basin are <br />protected from a call at Blue Mesa since the <br />USBR has subordinated its rights to allow up <br />to 60,000 acre-feet of additional junior <br />depletion from the Upper Gunnison Basin. <br />This is based on the earlier intent of the <br />United States and the Colorado River Water <br />Conservation District as was presented to <br /> <br />Congress. Trans-basin diversion is specifically <br />not an allowable use of the 60,000 acre-feet <br />under the USBR's October 26, 1984 <br />Memorandum regarding the subordination. <br />Water rights for Blue Mesa, Morrow Point and <br />Crystal were filed in the name of the Colorado <br />River Water Conservation District, which may <br />still have some control on how they are to be <br />exercised. <br /> <br />Taylor Park Reservoir, owned by the <br />Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association <br />(UVWUA), has the capacity to store <br />approximately 73% of the annual yield of the <br />Taylor River above the dam site. Water <br />released from Taylor Park is diverted <br />downstream of the USBR dams through the <br />Gunnison Tunnel for irrigation in the <br />Uncompahgre Basin and is a major senior <br />right with absolute and conditional decrees for <br />1,300 cfs. The Gunnison Tunnel right for <br />irrigation is senior to the USBR reservoirs. <br />UVWUA also has conditional rights to divert <br />900 cfs (82CW324) plus 235 cfs (87CW273) <br />through the tunnel for power use, effectively <br />extending the season during which the major <br />diversion could operate. Further downstream, <br />the Redlands Power Canal near Grand <br />Junction could place a call if new junior rights <br />or a change in the operation of Blue Mesa <br />Reservoir depleted the river below their <br />decrees (670 cfs in a supplemental 1912 <br />adjudication plus 80 cfs in a 1959 <br />adjudication). <br /> <br />CONCLUSIONS <br /> <br />Existing absolute and conditional water rights <br />within the Gunnison Basin - both direct flow <br />and storage - for irrigation and power <br />production purposes are sufficient to control <br />the river in most years, In this author's <br />opinion, export of water from Taylor Park <br />would not be feasible if hydro-electric. power <br />production rights on the Gunnison River are <br />fully exercised in the future. <br /> <br />The Upper Gunnison River Water <br />Conservancy District application, the Aurora <br />
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