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<br />Grand Valley Project <br /> <br />-2- <br /> <br />The water distribution system is complicated as it involves It canal <br />and associated lateral systems, 715 miles in length, and about 1,100 <br />landowners with constant flow water rights. Most of the main and <br />lateral canals are earthlined. About one-fourth of the irrigated lands <br />have been leveled or smoothed to improve surface application of irri- <br />gated water. The water disposal systems include 14 natural washes and <br />some man-made community or group drains. Most of the surface return <br />flow finds its way Into the natural washes before returning to the <br />Colorado River. <br /> <br />In past time, the Colorado River has eroded a deep wide channel through <br />the Mancos Shale Formation which has since been refilled with alluvial <br />materials to a depth of some 50 to 60 feet. The present channel of the <br />Colorado River is incised in the alluvial materials which are more per- <br />meable than the shale, and serve as a general acquifer for the flood <br />plain area. This aCQuifer is recharged by deep percolation losses from <br />irrigation, canal seepage, and from the watershed portion. In some <br />places, the acquifer is under artesian pressure, and the salinity of the <br />water in the acquifer varies from 6,000 to 36,000 parts per million of <br />total dissolved salts. Sal inity concentrations normally increase 'with <br />depth. <br /> <br />The upland drainage or diffuse salt source area is the drainage above <br />the Grand Valley irrigated area. The study area encompasses some <br />839,000 acres. Annual precipitation varies from about eight inches in <br />the lower, val ley to 20 inches on a small portion in the northwest <br />portion of the basin. <br /> <br />Economic - Agricultural income from the sale of farm products in this <br />subbas i n arrounts to about 40 percent of the tota ( for the bas in. The <br />subbasin contains about 65 percent of the irrigated cropland in Mesa <br />County, but the value of farm product sales amounts to about 75 percent <br />of the total for the county. <br /> <br />In 1969 there were about 1,125 farm or ranch operating units. Of the <br />1,125 farms 26 percent had incomes of over $10,000; 31 percent had <br />incomes between $2,500 and $9,999; and 44 percent had incomes of less <br />than $2,500. However, of the 44 percent with less than $2,500 incomes <br />only five percent are full-time farmers under 65 years of age. The <br />remaining 39 percent are either part-time or part-retirement farmers. <br /> <br />Market value from the sale of all agricultural products in 1969 was over <br />$13 millions, of which 65 percent is from the sale of livestock, poultry, <br />and their products, and 13 percent is from the sale of peaches, apples, <br />pears, and cherries. Other income comes from the sale of hay, grains, <br />vegetables, and nursery products. <br /> <br />1638 <br />..' <br /> <br />---'- <br />