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<br /><::1 <br />..-.; <br />~ <br />~-l <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Executive Summary <br /> <br />In 1981 the Colorado General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 439 autho- <br /> <br />rizing the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to conduct water resource <br /> <br />development studies for the Yellow Jacket Project. The CWCB requested the <br /> <br />Bureau of Reclamation in the summer of 1982 to study the proposed Yellow <br /> <br />Jacket agricultural increment under the State assistance program funded by <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />the State of Colorade. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />A feasibility level analysis has been made by the Bureau of Reclamation <br /> <br />to measure the ability of irrigators to repay project costs and the agricul- <br /> <br />tural benefits generated by irrigating project lands. Payment capacity and <br /> <br />benefits were estimated using the Bureau of Reclamation farm budget method of <br /> <br />analysis which models the complete farm operation of typical farms in the <br /> <br />project area. A farm survey was cenducted in the project area in the fall of <br /> <br />1982 to serve as a base for the farm budget modeling. <br /> <br />Project lands total 8,000 acreS of which 6,550 acres are new lands which <br /> <br />are not presently irrigated and 1,450 acres which have a present supply but <br /> <br />need additional water. Increased water needs for the project area based on <br /> <br />sprinkler irrigation requirements of 1.86 acre-feet per acre total 13,000 <br /> <br />acre-feet. Ninty-four percent or 12,200 acre-feet would be used on new land <br /> <br />with only 800 acre-feet going to supplement the water supply on presently <br /> <br />irrigated land. <br /> <br />Project revenues are available from two. sources, the sale of project <br /> <br />water and a pressure charge for pressurizing the existing water supply in the <br /> <br />project pipelines. <br /> <br />The analysis reveals that irrig'itors could pay $30 an.!-."re annually for <br /> <br />water on new land and approximately $16 per acre-foot for water to supplement <br />- <br /> <br />existing supplies. <br />