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Rest Elk Mine i~ Water Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Period When Motmt Gunnison Pipeline was "Called Out-of-Priority" No Call July 12 through September 2 No Call July 26 through September 17 No Call For the purposes of conservatively analyzing average years, WWE assumes that there is a North Fork call from mid July through mid September. In dry years, the call is assumed to run from July 1 to October 1. The total water diversions from the Mount Gunnison Pipeline were 197 acre-feet in 1994, 224 acre-feet in 1995 and 276 acre-feet in 1996. Also, during 1996, MCC ensured that when the Mount Gunnison Pipeline was out of priority, the river was "left whole" via an arrangement for flow releases as described below. MCC will provide future call status and total water diversions in subsequent Annual Hydrology Reports. When there is no water right call on the North Fork, MCC is able to divert using the Mount Gunnison Pipeline in priority. When there has been a call, however, MCC has offset its out-of- priority diversions (via the Mount Gunnison Pipeline) by augmenting the North Fork flows through releases from the East Beckwith No. 1 Reservoir (Lost Lake Slough), MCC's upstream storage right. The State Engineer's Office (SEO) has allowed the Mount Gunnison Pipeline to continue to divert out of priority and has required the appropriate releases from East Beckwith No. 1 Reservoir to prevent injury to other vested water rights. Table 46 provides MCC's diversions, return flows and depletions to the North Fork for three different time periods. (The significance of these time periods is described in the following Section, Mine Water System). Review of Table 46 and recognition of the fact that a new 2,000 gpm pumping facility will be operational by late 1998, lead to the following observations specifically pertaining to water rights: 1. In 1996, MCC discharged more water to the North Fork than it diverted from the North Fork. Specifically, there was a surplus of approximately 157 acre-feet that came primarily during the late spring and early summer when the B East Mains fault inflows were at their highest. 2. During November and December 1996, it was assumed there were minor North Fork depletions because in-mine runoff water from the Mount Gunnison Pipeline (i.e., North Fork water that was pumped into the mine for mining use) along with fault water inflows, were collected in operational sumps and then pumped to the NW Panels sealed sump. However, there was no North Fork call during this time; hence, no vested downstream 2.05-176 RevisedJw. 1995 PR06; Revised Nov. 1998 TR80; !!98 PR09