FINAL REPORT OF THE SPECIAL MASTER
By its decree dated May 19, 2003 (“Decree”), this Court approved the Final Settlement Stipulation (“FSS”) that all of the parties to this original action, namely, the States of Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, had executed and filed with me on December 16, 2002. The FSS laid out the parameters for the RRCA Groundwater Model which would, for use in the accounting formulas for administering the Republican River Compact, determine both stream flow depletions caused by groundwater pumping and streamflow accretions resulting from recharge by imported water. The FSS further prescribed procedures for the timely completion and adoption of the Model by the States. In accordance with Section IV.C of the FSS, the Modeling Committee that was provided for therein completed the RRCA Groundwater Model and submitted it to the States in final form.
All three States then approved and adopted the RRCA Groundwater Model prior to July 1, 2003. Accordingly, I present herewith my Certificate of Adoption by the party States of the RRCA Groundwater Model along with documentation of the Model as adopted by the States. By the Decree the Court also dismissed with prejudice all claims, counterclaims, and cross-claims for which leave to file was or could have been sought in this case arising prior to December 15, 2002, and it made that dismissal effective upon the filing by the Special Master of a final report certifying adoption of the RRCA Groundwater Model by the party States. When the Court hereafter by its customary practice directs that this present report is received and ordered filed, the Court will thereby establish the effective date of the dismissal with prejudice of all claims as ordered by the Decree. By the terms of the
