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Colorado Springs Utilities Pilot Project Proposal <br />November 16, 2018 <br />Page 7 <br /> <br />the practice of rotationally fallowing substantial agricultural lands (currently estimated at up to 700 <br />acres annually to supply 1,000 acre-feet of water and 3,500 acres annually to supply 5,000 acre-feet of <br />water) that have been historically irrigated to allow for the leasing of the historical consumptive use <br />water for temporary municipal use by CS-U. See Super Ditch Resolution. <br />The CS-U Pilot Project will demonstrate cooperation among three different canal companies, a <br />different typ e of water demand (CS-U drought recovery), participating farmers, and the Super Ditch. <br />See Super Ditch Resolution; Catlin Resolution; Fort Lyon Letter of Intent; High Line Letter of Intent . <br />The cooperation amongst these groups will be facilitated through Super Ditch’s management of <br />operations. Id. The State, the participants, and other interested parties will have the opportunity to <br />evaluate the feasibility of delivering leased water to temporary municipal users on a large scale using <br />lease water fro m multiple ditch companies and their shareholders with more flexibility to fallow <br />irrigated land through operation of the CS-U Pilot Project. Id. <br />The CS-U Pilot Project will provide data from which the CWCB and State Engineer can <br />further evaluate the efficacy of using a streamlined approach for determining historical consumptive <br />use, return flows, the potential for material injury to other water rights, and conditions to prevent injury <br />on a large scale. Unlike the Catlin Pilot Project, the CS-U Pilot P roject will involve lease water from <br />shareholders in three different canal companies and provide maximum flexibility to irrigators to <br />determine which acres will be fallowed. Applicant’s consultants will conduct an historical use analysis <br />using the Leasing Fallowing Tool that has been developed for the CWCB. It will also utilize the <br />assumptions, presumptive factors and methodologies set forth in Section II.G of the Criteria and <br />Guidelines (or successor), which were conservatively developed to streamline and standardize the <br />historical use analysis so as to prevent injury to vested water rights, conditional water rights, or contract <br />rights to water. Id. Through this, along with the imposition of protective terms and conditions, the CS- <br />U Pilot Project will d emonstrate how to operate, administer and account for the practice of fallowing <br />irrigated agricultural land under multiple ditch companies for leasing water for temporary municipal <br />use without causing material injury to other vested water rights, decreed conditional water rights, or <br />contract rights to water. Id. <br />The CS-U Pilot Project would not involve the fallowing of the same land for more than three <br />years in a ten-year period because the contract between Super Ditch and CS-U only allows CS -U to <br />lease water in three out of ten years. The CS-U Pilot Project will involve the fallowing of lands <br />irrigated under three different ditches and demonstrate cooperation and operation among Super Ditch, <br />the canal companies, and individual shareholders. <br />The CS-U Pilo t Project would not involve any transfer or facilitation of transfer of water across <br />the continental divide by direct diversion, exchange, or otherwise, nor does it involve the transfer or <br />facilitation of transfer of w ater out of the Rio Grande Basin by direct diversion, exchange or otherwise. <br />See Map (Exhibit G). The source of water is water native to the Arkansas River; all historical <br />irrigation with this water has occurred in the Lower Arkansas River Valley in Pueblo, Otero, Prowers, <br />and Bent Cou nties under the Catlin, Fort Lyon, and High Line canals; and the proposed temporary <br />municipal use will occur within CS-U’s water service areas located wholly within El Paso County. <br />Section II.C of the Criteria and Guidelines allows the CWCB to approve a pilot project involving more