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3736 RUEDI DAM AKD RESERVOIR, COLO. 43 Gattle Greek area The arable lands of the Cattle Creek area are located principally'on high mesas adjacent to the ,'alleys of Cattle Creek and the Roaring' Fork River. The presently irrigated lands are devoted to the produc. tion of hay, pasture, and other livestock feed crops. Cattle Creek, a, tributary of the Roaring Fork Hinr that drains.the western end of Red Table 1I10nntain, is the priucipal source of 'water presently used for the irrigation of about 5,500 acres of land. Eiliht small resenoirs wit.h a combined capacity of about. 4,000 acre-feet have been developed by the local irrigators and :.1 uitch has been con- structed to import irrigation water from Cottonwood Creek, a tribu- tary of the Colorado River above t.he mout,h of the Hoaring Fork Ri,'er. Even with the importations and the tlsuilable storage l'eg\llat.i~n, water shortages are estul1nted to average over :30 percent of the ldeal re- quirements of the irl'igateillands. There are also sizable aCl'~nges of arahle lands within the area that are undeveloped at the present time because of an inadeqnate water supply. The plan for irrigation development of lands in the Cattle Creek area as presented in the Cliffs-Divide project recollnaissance report in\'oh"ed importation of additional water from 15 small tributaries of Fryingplln Creek and from Cottonwood ami East Brush Creeks, both of which are tributaries of the Colorado River. A small quautity of Cattle Creek water' non' surpl11s to existing water l'ig}lts cOllld lltl\-e also been utilized. The Hew water sllpply would have provided fnll irrigation s€n"ice to 13,740 acres of undeveloped lands and supple- mellbll irrigation service to the [i~GOO acres of presently irrigated lands. 'Vith an allowance of r. percent for nonprodudive land uses the tutallJl'uullctive area was estimated at 18,090 acres. Construction features of t.he plan included a l3,700-acre-foot reser. voir, It 42-mile conveyance canal, two feeder canals with combined length of about G miles, aud" l6-mile distribution canal. The plan also included enlargement of three existing canals and a re,servoir. "'Vater operation studies were based on nn annual diversion require- ment of 3 acre-feet per acre of productive land. It was estimated that an llverage of 40,400 acre-feet of additional water would have been made anlilable annually for irrigation use and the average shortage of irrigation water would have been 7 percent of tJ1e diversion re- quirement. It was anticipated that the irrignble lands of the area would con. tinue t,o be devoted principally to the production of livestock feeds. Estimfltes of payment capacity and irrigation benefits would neces- sarily be hased on an economy of this type. ,'- To serve the Cattle Creek a.rea. with irrigation water from Rnedi Resel'\"oir it would be neCessary to construct about 4:3 miles of main conduit and service cnnals together with adequate laterul and drain- :tt7e systems. It lfmdd not he Jlecess<lz-y to COJlst.rllct any new reselToirs n~d the enlargement of existing reservoirs mn.y be found unnecessary. Extensi\"e fierd SlH\'eys and adequate plan formulation studies will he (renllired to cOJ11pletp.ly outline the. extent of t.he construction fea- tures that would he needed. 'Vithout a. large amount of dead-storage cnpl1cit..r in Rnedi Reser. ,'oir, it Illigllt be- infeasible to delin.:~r ""ater directly from Rlledi Resen"oil' to some of the higher lands previollsly considered for direct