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Mr Don Loloff <br />RE Estimated Augmentation Plan Cost <br />December 23, 2011 <br />Page 5 of 7 <br />Whitney Irrigating Ditch Company <br />The Whitney Irrigating Ditch Company (WIDC) is situated such that shares historically used in <br />Zone 3 of the ditch (below the GIC headgate) could provide replacements for Loloff Pit <br />depletions during the May through September timeframe (if returned directly to the river during <br />the irrigation season) or year round (if placed into storage or recharge). The WIDC was recently <br />the subject of a ditch -wide analysis, the results of which were decreed in Case No. 08CW65. <br />The case found that a WIDC share yielded 13.69 acre -feet of consumptive use on average each <br />year. <br />If WIDC shares were substituted for GIC shares to provide replacements during the May through <br />September timeframe, we assess that seven W1DC shares would be required as shown in Table 2. <br />Similar to the GIC scenario, approximately 59 acre -feet of depletions remain during the October <br />through November period which would need to be replaced through some other means, such as <br />the recharge of NCLPIC shares discussed previously. <br />According to information provided by a water broker familiar with water rights in the basin <br />WIDC shares commonly sell for approximately $35k per share, resulting in a total cost of <br />approximately $245k for all seven shares. Although there appears to be a cost savings here in <br />comparison to the GIC approach, it should be noted that (unlike the GIC system) there currently <br />is no functioning augmentation station in Zone 3 of the Whitney Ditch. One would have to be <br />constructed before the WIDC shares could be used to make direct replacements during the <br />irrigation season. The cost to construct such a structure could quickly consume any cost savings <br />realized from purchasing WIDC shares as opposed to GIC shares. <br />Ogilvy Ditch <br />As previously discussed, the Ogilvy Ditch is the most upstream water right to which <br />replacements are owed during the irrigation season. If Ogilvy Ditch shares were acquired, one <br />potential solution to prevent injury during the irrigation season would be to leave the shares in <br />the ditch when it is placing a call, and pass the water downstream in the event the call is farther <br />down the stream system. While feasible, this option would require getting any potential <br />objectors on board with the plan to leave the water in the ditch when it is placing a call; <br />depending on the number of objectors and their various concerns, this could be a complex <br />undertaking. <br />In addition, a historical consumptive use analysis and the installation of augmentation structures <br />on the ditch would still be required to use Ogilvy Ditch shares in an augmentation plan. Unless <br />these shares are priced low relative to their consumptive use value, there likely would be no cost <br />savings using this approach as opposed to one of the other alternatives identified. At this time, <br />we have no reliable information as to the cost and consumptive use value of an Ogilvy Ditch <br />share. <br />Finally, the proposed approach would only provide irrigation season replacements; depletions <br />during the non - irrigation season would need to be replaced through some other means. <br />s Joe O'Brien (Selling Colorado Water), e -mail to Bill Warmack (Applegate Group), December 22, 2011. <br />