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Kathy Welt and Christine Johnston March 7. 1997 (DRAFT) Page ] 0 expected that Lone Pine Gulch will receive only sporadic and infrequent discharges from the mine that aze so limited in terms of duration and magnitude that no significant changes will occur to the stream channel. VII. WATER RIGHTS ASPECTS OF FAULT INFLOWS AND SUMP UTILIZATION MCC has cazefully accounted for the water rights considerations associated with the 1996/1997 fault inflows and sump utilization, as explained in this section. MCC utilizes the Ivtount G[mnison Pipeline as its basic water supply source, during both times of "call" and "no call" on the North Fork. Because the Mount Gunnison Pipeline is a junior water right, it is often "called out of priority" during the late summer and eazly autumn. A summary of the North Fork call records in the last four years follows: Water Year Period When Mount Gunnison Pipeline was "Called Out of Priority" 1993 No Call 1994 July l2 through September 2 1995 No Call 1996 July 26 through September 17 For the purposes of conservatively analyzing average years, WWE assumed that there is a North Fork call from mid July through mid September. In dry yeazs, the call is assumed to run from July 1 to October 1. Based on the current (February 1997) snowpack data, WWE expects the 1997 water year to be a "wet" yeaz and the calls, if any, will be short in duration. The total water diversions from the Mount Gunnison Pipeline were 197 acre-feet in 1994, 224 acre- feet in 1995 and 260 acre-feet in 1996. It is noteworthy that 1996 North Fork diversions were compazable to those in previous yeazs, despite the unprecedented events experienced by MCC in 19962. 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, described below. 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, it has been MCC's practice to 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). 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. ' The slight increase in diversions can be attributed to higher production rates.