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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />Execurive Summary <br /> <br />ofthe North Platte project. These traditional disputes involving inter- <br />pretation of decree terms and limits can probably only be resolved through <br />litigation. Settlement negotiations took place during 1996, continued into <br />1997 and appear to have more or less concluded as of June 1997, These <br />discussions have resolved some issues (e.g., transit losses) but have left others <br />unresolved (depletions by wells in Wyoming). Consequently, the matter is <br />scheduled to proceed to trial in 1998. <br /> <br />The Colorado Department of Natural Resources and local units of government <br />have assumed leadership in resolving conflicts over supplying municipal <br />water demand in the front range area of Colorado. The Colorado Department <br />of Natural Resources through its Metropolitan Water Supply fnvestigation <br />and the Denver Water Department through its Integrated Resource Planning <br />program have provided the vehicles and leadership to facilitate cooperation, <br />with the potential of more cooperation in the future, among competitors for <br />municipal water supply in the front range area. To date the federal agencies <br />have had limited roles in this municipal water supply planning effort, except <br />for the Army Corps of Engineers and its investigation of storage reallocation <br />in Chatfield Reservoir, which is primarily a flood control facility on the South <br />Platte River immediately upstream from Denver. This investigation by the <br />Corps is being completed at the request of other entities. <br /> <br />The front range municipal water supply planning efforts indicate that with <br />leadership, states and local water agencies can develop effective solutions. <br />Successful implementation of these plans, however, is dependent on <br />resolution of endangered species problems on the Platte River in Nebraska. <br />ff each of the participating entities in the front range municipal water supply <br />planning process is faced with developing its own individual preferred <br />alternative in order to avoid a jeopardy opinion on a proposed municipal <br />water supply project, many of these projects will be infeasible. If, however, <br />the MOA/Cooperative Agreement process is successful in developing a <br />recovery program for the endangered species on the Platte River in Nebraska, <br />this will significantly improve the implementation prospects for cooperative <br />and coordinated municipal water supply projects in the front range area. <br /> <br />The FERC relicensing proceedings for Kingsley Dam have demonstrated the <br />inefficiency and ineffectiveness that such procedures offer for resolving water <br />resources conflicts. The reIicensing procedures have been ongoing for more <br />than 10 years and have now produced a draft Biological Opinion with <br />numerous requirements that are probably unacceptable to the applicants and <br />the other stakeholders. The Kingsley Dam FERC relicensing procedures <br /> <br />ix <br />