Water Allotment Contracts
The District operates a program to offer an augmentation supply to users within the District service area, shown in the map below:
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The District utilizes its water rights to augment and offset the depletions of its contractees, eliminating injury to senior controlling water rights, and allowing the contractees to continue to divert in water-short time periods.
The District maintains two distinct programs: the Substitute Water Supply Plan and Plans for Augmentation.
The Office of the State Engineer has the authority to approve plans that provide a substitute supply of water to senior appropriators on behalf of junior diverters. When substitute water (i.e. a release of Ruedi or Green Mountain Reservoir water, or historic consumptive use credit) is supplied to a senior priority, the supplier (the junior diverter) may then take an equivalent amount for beneficial use. The District's SWSP is a short-term administrative approval from the State Engineer allowing new Area A District contractees to put their water to immediate beneficial use in advance of a final Plan for Augmentation from the Water Court.
On May 5, 1983, the District requested recognition and approval of a Substitute Water Supply Plan (SWSP) from the State Engineer. In its request, the District proposed "...to use its storage rights in Ruedi Reservoir as well as its decreed direct flow rights as a substitute supply for water for its contract allotees to supply senior appropriators on the Frying Pan, Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers." On May 24, 1983, the State Engineer approved the plan in accordance with CRS 1973, 37-80-120, subject to several conditions. One condition requires the submittal of an annual operating plan, identifying each contract, its quantity of water, point of diversion, and diversion schedule. Since 1983, annual operating plans have been submitted to and approved by the State Engineer. In addition, the District requests renewed approval for the SWSP from the State Engineer once every two years. Subsequent requests have sought recognition of additional District water rights, including the Troy and Edith Ditch, the Robinson Ditch, and Green Mountain Reservoir as permissible sources of SWSP replacement. To date, these requests have been approved by the State Engineer.
The Substitute Water Supply Plan is only a "temporary" legal water supply as administered by the State Engineer. One condition of the SWSP is that all contractees must ultimately be covered by a Plan for Augmentation decreed in Water Court in accordance with Colorado law. In addition, contracts that do not qualify for temporary operation under the SWSP must obtain a Water Court decree for a Plan for Augmentation before they can be augmented under the District's program.
To satisfy the Plan for Augmentation, individual contractees are required to obtain a Court-decreed Plan for Augmentation for their water uses. Alternatively, the District periodically files a "group" Plan for Augmentation on behalf of certain qualifying Area A contractees. The engineering and legal fees associated with obtaining a group Augmentation Plan are shared among those included in the Plan, resulting in a significant savings to the contractee as compared to an independent filing.
- Area A and Area B
The District, in co-operation with the State Division of Water Resources, has defined two distinct water service areas, denoted as "Area A" and "Area B."
Area A encompasses those regions that are located near the Fryingpan or Roaring Fork Rivers, or on tributary creeks, that have water flows sufficient to satisfy the requirements of all senior downstream water rights on those creeks. Area A contracts generally qualify for operation under the Substitute Water Supply Plan.
Area B is defined by those locations where the contractee's water use may prevent a senior downstream user from receiving the full amount of water to which it is entitled. Examples of streams where this is the case include tributaries to the Roaring Fork River such as Cattle Creek, Blue Creek, Snowmass Creek and Woody Creek, where streamflows do not satisfy the senior water rights at all times. In Area B, the contractee must obtain an individual Plan for Augmentation, approved by the Water Court, in order to benefit from the District's water rights. The plan may include District water rights to satisfy senior users downstream on the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers at times when streamflow in the local tributary is sufficient to meet the requirements of local senior users. However, at times when water in the stream is insufficient to satisfy the local senior rights, the Area B contractee will require another source of physical or legal supply to meet the requirements of the senior users on the local tributary.