ROY ROMER Governor
MAY 4 1989 OFFICE OF THE STATE ENGINEER
DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES nr;74,4LAST.ER7; COLO-1,rt, )
"-• 1313 Sherman Street-Room 818 Denver. Colorado 80203 (303) 866-3581 April 27, 1989 FAtRLLU a•VIOODS, P.C. •
Mr. Charles D. Latuda, President
Pl.rgtoir3 River Water Conscr7.ancy District 314 West Main Street
Trinidad, CO 81082
410
Re: Administration of Water Rights Stored in Trinidad Reservoir Dear Mr. Latuda:
In its Final"Report on the review of the Trinidad Project Operating Principles dated December 1988, the Bureau of Reclamation reached the following conclusions:
A. Transfer of water from the (M)odel storage right to the Joint-Use Pool is a departure from the intent of the Operating Principles. B. The storage of winter water under direct flow right priorities is
also a departure from the intent of the Operating Principles. Based on these conclusions, the Bureau of Reclamation has recommended that these practices be discontinued until such time as the Operating Principles have been.amended to recognize these practices.
The Bureau of Reclamation's conc)usions differ from the interpretation of the Operating Principles by the Purgatoire River Water Conservancy District, which the State of Colorado has accepted in administering the Project water rights since 1979. .
I have been advised by legal counsel for the State of Colorado that the Bureau of Reclamation's new interpretation of the Operating Principles is likely to be viewed as persuasive with regard to these practices. Therefore, although the Operating Principles do not explicitly adopt the criteria used in the operation studies performed by the Bureau of Reclamation, I have been aavised that until such time as the Operating Principles are amended or a court of competent jurisdiction determines that these practices are not a departure from the intent of the Operating Principles, I should administer the Project water rights consistent with the Bureau of Reclamation's most recent
Mr. Charles D. Latuda Page 2 April 27, 1989
interpretation of the Operating Principles. Therefore, effective November 1, 1988, the storage in Trinidad Reservoir will be administered as follows:
1. Water stored in Trinidad Reservoir under the Model Storage Right which is carried over into the next irrigation season shall be . charged as part of the filling, of the Model Storage Right in the following year.
2. Water stored in Trinidad Reservoir during the winter shall be
accounted for as if it were stored under the Model Storage Right and shall be charged as part of the filling of the Model Storage Right unless the water is stored at such times as John Martin Reservoir is reasonably cxpected to 3pill in accordanc2 with Art. IV.D.1(b) of the Operating Principles, or is stored pursuant to such other rights to store water as the District lawfully acquires by appropriation or purchase, such as the transmountain water which the District has purchased in the past, as provided for in Art. IV.A.2(b) of the Operating Principles.
I recognize that these changes in administration, although previously accepted by the Bureau and this office, may affect the water supply available to the Project water users during the coming irrigation season and that the Bureau of Reclamation has concluded that these practices will not cause the future usable inflow to John Martin Reservoir to be less with the Trinidad Project in operation than it would have been without the Project. However, in view of the Bureau of Reclamation's recommendations that these practices be discontinued until the Operating Principles have been amended to recognize these practices, I feel constrained to accept the Bureau's recommendations.
The District is, of course, free to proceed to amend the Operating Principles as recommended by the Bureau of Reclamation in its Final Report.
Sincerely, ris A. Danielson State Engineer JAD/pjl cc: M. E. MacDougall Hal D. Simpson Steven J. Witte Henry D. Marques Frank G. Cooley J. William McDonald
