May 15, 2015 
Ms. Diane Hoppe, Chair 
Colorado Water Conservation Board 
 
RE: Ute Water Lease 
Dear Ms. Hoppe, 
This is to provide the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) with testimony regarding the proposed lease of 
Ruedi Reservoir water from the Ute Water Conservancy District.  These comments are submitted by the Ruedi 
Water and Power Authority (RWAPA), a local intergovernmental body made up of representatives from Roaring 
Fork Valley counties and municipalities, which has been working to assure responsible and appropriate 
management of Ruedi Reservoir since 1981.  
RWAPA concurs with the concerns expressed in the May 6 letter from Pitkin County and the City of Aspen which is 
included in the packet materials regarding this matter.  RWAPA members are very concerned with the potential 
short-term impacts of additional releases from Ruedi on fisherman access, the Fryingpan River environment, local 
hydropower production, and flatwater recreation in Ruedi Reservoir.   While we recognize the potential benefits of 
additional releases to both endangered fish in the ’15-Mile Reach’ and to fisheries in the lower Roaring Fork, we 
believe that these benefits must be balanced with protection of existing economic, recreational and environmental 
values that have been fostered by Ruedi Reservoir management practices over the last 40+ years.  We support the 
restrictions and limitations that are proposed by CWCB staff to limit impacts both in scope and time and we 
appreciate the work that has been done to communicate with us and to acknowledge local concerns over the last 
several weeks. However, we continue to be concerned about the way in which this lease may influence Ruedi 
management decisions in future years.  
RWAPA has been working with local, state and federal decision-makers for years to bring predictability and 
consistency to Ruedi management.  Recreational value was specifically acknowledged by the Bureau of 
Reclamation as one of the primary justifications for Ruedi’s development and the fishing and boating activities that 
have become established in the Fryingpan Valley have borne out that original assessment. The Roaring Fork Valley 
community, and especially the Town of Basalt, recognizes and treasures the world-class fishing and boating that 
Ruedi supports and the hydropower production that reduces our dependency on carbon-based energy. RWAPA’s 
efforts are aimed at assuring that these values are protected as Ruedi is utilized for its other purposes, including 
the provision of contract water to qualified buyers and the provision of supplemental streamflows for endangered 
fish species. Those efforts have been successful because the State of Colorado, the Bureau of Reclamation and 
others have worked with us to identify alternative sources of endangered fish water and to let contracts for Ruedi 
water which limit releases to specific purposes under specific circumstances.  Although we recognize that the 
proposed lease of Ruedi water is completely within the boundaries of existing laws and regulations, we also must 
point out that it represents a potentially fundamental shift in when, how and under whose authority contract 
water is released.   
We believe the basis of Ruedi contract water sales has been that the water thus acquired by western slope water 
entities would be held in Ruedi unless and until it was needed to augment domestic, municipal and industrial 

 supplies in downstream communities. We must also note that a corollary assumption regarding contract water was 
that acquiring water in Ruedi was an investment in future reliable water supplies and that it did not carry any 
promise of reimbursement or monetary compensation of any kind from a third party.  Another assumption has 
been that endangered species water was held in a separate pool in Ruedi to be released at the request of the Fish 
and Wildlife Service in coordination with releases from other sources in the upper Colorado River. These 
assumptions led us to conclude that endangered species releases would be limited to the amounts assigned to that 
purpose through various public processes (i.e. NEPA, the Programmatic Biological Opinion, the ‘2012’ Agreement).  
The proposed lease of Ute Water Conservancy District water by the CWCB calls all of those assumptions into 
question and undermines the painstaking efforts that have been made over the last several decades to assure that 
Ruedi management maintains a balance between the various interests and values that it supports. Although we 
recognize that the terms of the lease being contemplated for this year will effectively limit impacts, we are very 
concerned that it may set a precedent for future similar arrangements between the CWCB and Ruedi contractors 
that will not be subject to the same terms and limitations.  
With these concerns in mind, we would ask that the following be incorporated into any CWCB action on this lease: 
1.

The Ute Water lease should be negotiated in public, with an opportunity for the public to observe those 
negotiations and should be subject to public review prior to execution by the parties.  Furthermore, those 
negotiations and execution of the lease should take place on the western slope where interested local 
stakeholders can conveniently observe and participate when the opportunity arises. 
2. The impacts of the Ute Water lease should be analyzed and reviewed with western slope stakeholders 
prior to any renewal of the lease or any similar lease arrangements in the future. 
3. The CWCB should carry out a long-term management study of Ruedi, in cooperation with the Bureau of 
Reclamation, the Southeast Water Conservancy District, the Ruedi Water and Power Authority and other 
stakeholders, with the objective of examining appropriate limitations on Ruedi releases, alternatives to 
conveyance of water in the Fryingpan River, maintenance of the Fryingpan River fishery and fisherman 
access, and other relevant topics.  That study should be completed and appropriate recommendations 
adopted by the relevant parties prior to any future long-term leases between Ruedi contractors and the 
State of Colorado.  
4. If short-term leases of water between Ruedi contractors and the CWCB are contemplated while the 
above-noted study is underway, they should carry the same limitations and conditions as the one 
currently being contemplated between the CWCB and Ute.  
 
We appreciate the opportunity to comment on this matter and we appreciate the efforts made by CWCB staff to 
respond to our concerns.  Please continue to keep us informed and involved as this issue moves forward.  
 
Yours truly,  

 
 
Mark Fuller, for 
Michael Owsley, President 
Ruedi Water and Power Authority