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2.14. Steamboat Lake <br />Steamboat Lake (WDID 583787) is located on Willow Creek, a tributary of the Elk <br />River. The reservoir is owned and operated by the Colorado Division of Parks and <br />Outdoor Recreation (CPOR) and is used primarily for recreational and industrial <br />purposes. According to the design plans for the reservoir and the elevation-capacity table, <br />the capacity at the normal spillway elevation is approximately 23,064 acre-feet, which <br />represents the active capacity of the reservoir, there being no dead storage below the <br />elevation of the outlet works. Historically, CPOR has been allowed to store water above <br />the normal spillway elevation, encroaching upon the flood surcharge capacity of the <br />reservoir. This arrangement has been made permanent with the installation of gates in the <br />spillway to allow this storage and by obtaining an additional water right to store in the <br />additional capacity (approximately 3,300 acre-feet). The Division 6 engineer provided a <br />regression equation relating the reservoir water surface area to the storage capacity <br />Surface Area = 0.41*(Capacity)^0.78 <br />Steamboat Lake presently has the following storage water rights: <br />Adjudication Appropriation Administration Amount <br />WDID Date Date Date (acre-feet) <br />583787 OS-30-1972 10-18-1961 41727.40833 5,000 <br />OS-30-1972 10-18-1961 41727.40833 18,064 <br />12-31-1990 OS-15-1968 51134.43234 3,300 <br />TOTAL 26,364 <br />Although they carry the same priority, the original water right for 5,000 acre-feet is <br />decreed primarily for industrial uses whereas the right for 18,064 acre-feet is decreed for <br />recreational and piscatorial uses. The junior decree is for the storage in the flood <br />surcharge capacity as described above. <br />Prior to the initial construction of the Steamboat Lake dam, CPOR entered into an <br />agreement with the Salt River Generating Co. and Colorado-Ute Electric Association (the <br />partners in the operation of the Hayden Station power plant) which provided for partial <br />payment of the construction costs by the latter and for the acquisition of a perpetual right <br />to withdraw from the reservoir up to 5,000 acre-feet of water per year. This water is the <br />reserve back-up water supply for the operation of the Hayden Station. (In 1992, Public <br />Service Co. and PacifiCorp acquired Colorado-Ute's interests in the contract). <br />Of the 3,300 acre-foot storage right in the surcharge storage pool, CPOR has contracted <br />to lease up to 125 acre-feet per year to the Cyprus Empire Corp. for use in an <br />augmentation plan. The use of the water for this purpose had been previously approved <br />by the Water Court. <br />In 1997, as an element of the Yampa Recovery Plan, CWCB and CPOR jointly obtained <br />a decree to change the use of 3,150 of of Steamboat Lake water to instream flow use to <br />preserve the natural environment. Furthermore, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service <br />Yampa River Basin Information 2-18 <br />