WSP09512

• File Number: 8200.765
• Description: White River General
• State: CO
• Basin: Yampa/White
• Water Division: 6
• Date: 11/1/1979
• Author: Clifford H Jex
• Title: Plan for the Water Supply for Development of Oil Shale Industry in White River Basin - Colorado
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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002972

Proposed Major Projects
Relatively recent water filings have been made by government agencies and private
corporations to provide water supplies for the anticipated industrial developments, proposed
hydro-power development and proposed irrigation projects. Figure 2 shows the locations
and appropriation dates of the major proposed water projects within the Basin. The list is
not intended to be all-inclusive and does not include several projects which have been
filed whereby water would be imported from the Colorado River Basin to serve projects in
the Piceance Creek area.
All water rights shown in Figure 2 are "conditional water rights" and at the present
time construction has not been started on any of the physical works which must be completed
before "water rights" can be granted. A "conditional water right" means a right to perfect
a "water right" with a certain appropriation date upon the completion with reasalable
diligence of the diversion and application to a beneficial use of the water shown in the
filing. Once every four years the owner of the "conditional water right" must show that
reasonable diligence is being exercised in the development of the "water right." If the
owner cannot show that a "conditional water right" is being developed with reasonable
diligence, the "conditional water right" can be terminated by the State of Colorado.
A brief description of the various "conditional water rights" follows.
I. South Fork-Piceance Pipeline and Stillwater Reservoir
This project is locoted on the South Fork of the White River and has the
earliest appropriation date of the major proposed projects. The option for
the project is currently held by the Humble Oil and Refining Company.
The rights include:
Name Decreed Capacities Appropriation Date
The South Fork-Pi ceance
Pipeline 70 cfs 29 May 1955
The Stillwater Reservoir 12,548 I>J= 29 May 1955
The pipeline would head at the Stillwater Reservoir dam and discharge into
Fourteen Mile Creek, a tributary of Piceance Creek. The pipeline could
operate by gravity but to operate at full capacity using an economically
sized pipe would require pumping. The yield of the pipeline would vary
from month to month and year to year and would require a storage reservoir

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