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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Megan Gutwein Email: mg@bhgrlaw.com <br />Attorney <br /> <br /> <br />March 4, 2019 <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />Rebecca Mitchell, Director <br />Lauren Ris, Deputy Director <br />Alex Funk, Agricultural Water Resources Specialist <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 718 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br /> <br /> <br />Re: HB 13-1248; Super Ditch/Colorado Springs Utilities Pilot Project Proposal <br />Response to Comments and Modification <br /> <br />Dear Ms. Mitchell. Ms. Ris, and Mr. Funk, <br /> <br /> I. Introduction <br /> <br />The Lower Arkansas Valley Super Ditch Company, Inc. (the “Super Ditch”) and the City of <br />Colorado Springs, acting by and through its enterprise Colorado Springs Utilities (“CS-U”), <br />(collectively “Applicants”) submitted a pilot project proposal to the CWCB on November 16, 2018 (the <br />“Proposal”). Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (“Tri-State”), the Lower Arkansas <br />Water Management Association (“LAWMA”), Pueblo West Metropolitan District (“Pueblo West”), <br />and Five Rivers Cattle Feeding LLC d/b/a Colorado Beef (“Colorado Beef”) submitted comments to <br />the Proposal in December of 2018. This letter describes the Applicants’ proposed modifications to the <br />Proposal to address the commenters’ concerns. Most significantly, the Applicants intend to withdraw <br />the Fort Lyon Canal Company (“Fort Lyon”) and the Rocky Ford High Line Canal Company (“High <br />Line”) from the Proposal, and reduce the amount of water to be leased to 1,000 acre-feet in three of any <br />ten years. The Applicants believe that this will address the majority of the commenters’ concerns, <br />while still resulting in a significant pilot project that will test the efficacy of leasing-fallowing to meet <br />municipal water supply needs as an alternative to buy-and-dry. Applicants request that the CWCB <br />consider its original Proposal for selection with the changes described below. <br />