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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Peter D. Nichols Email: pdn@bhgrlaw.com <br />Megan Gutwein mg@bhgrlaw.com <br /> <br /> <br />November 16, 2018 <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />Rebecca Mitchell, Director <br />Lauren Ris, Deputy Director <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 718 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br /> <br /> <br />Re: HB 13-1248 Colorado Springs Utilities Pilot Project Proposal for CWCB <br />Selection <br /> <br />Dear Ms. Mitchell and Ms. Ris, <br /> <br />This fallowing-leasing pilot project proposal is submitted pursuant to HB 13-1248, C.R.S. § 37- <br />60-115(8) (2018), on behalf of the Lower Arkansas Valley Super Ditch Company, Inc. (the “Super <br />Ditch”) and the City of Colorado Springs, acting by and through its enterprise Colorado Springs <br />Utilities (“CS -U”), (collectively “Applicants”) for the selection of a pilot project to deliver up to 5,000 <br />acre feet of water in a single year, which would begin operation in 2020. The CS-U Pilot Project would <br />meet 10 percent of the 2050 goal of Colorado’s Water Plan for Alternative Transfer Methods. <br />Applicants seek selection of this proposal pursuant to Section II.A of the Criteria and <br />Guidelines for Fallowing Leasing Pilot Projects, approved as amended by the Colorado Water <br />Conservation Board on January 25, 2016 (the “Criteria and Guidelines”). The proposed Colorado <br />Springs Utilities Pilot Project (“CS -U Pilot Project”) will use water available from certain shares in the <br />Catlin Canal Company (“Catlin”), Fort Lyon Canal Company (“Fort Lyon”), and/or Rocky Ford High <br />Line Canal Company (“High Line”) for temporary municipal uses by CS-U. The proposal is for a pilot <br />project that would operate over a ten-year period, i.e., from January 1, 2020 through December 31, <br />2029. <br />HB 13-1248, as amended and extended by Senate Bill (SB) 15-198 and HB 17-1219 and <br />codified at C.R.S. § 37-60-115(8), authorizes the CWCB to administer a pilot program to test the <br />efficacy of fallowing-leasing as an alternative to permanent agricultural dry-up. The Super Ditch, <br />along with the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District (“Lower Ark”), has been <br />successfully operating the Catlin Pilot Project under HB 13-1248 since 2015 to demonstrate rotational <br />fallowing-water leasing to meet municipal water demands in a manner that avoids permanent