WSP11971 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

2-6 I I I I I I I I I , I I I I I I I I I 2530 A. Ft. Lvon Canal Comilanv Issues Issues evoked by water transfers which are internal to the Ft. Lyon system revolve around two themes, These are 1) individual losses and gains of farmers related to irrigation water supply and personal finances, and 2) the ability of the ditch company to provide continuing service to shareholders. Internal issues are therefore presented from the perspective of the shareholders remaining in the system, when adjacent farms are retired from full-time irrigation, The concerns are primarily of three types - continued historic water supply, adverse changes in ditch and lateral operations, and financial impacts on farming costs and property values. 1. Water Supply and the individual farm business Historically, water transfers have required a change in the point of diversion. Flow to the ditch is reduced. This affects the flow characteristics of the canal in several ways. The water surface is lowered and the hydraulic head required to make deliveries is not maintained, Additionally, there is an increase in seepage loss as a percentage of total flow, The changes in flow regime within the ditch havE! traditionally been addressed by construction of checks or mechanisms to elevate the water surface and by requiring the sellers to leave a portion of their water in the canal to offset evaporation and seepage loss. A benefit from a transfer occurs for canals which historically havE! been limited in hydraulic capacity to make deliveries, The excess capacity accrues to the remaining shareholders, An alternative approach to the allowance for seepage losses is to line portions of the channel. However, lining could reduce historic return flows on which other surface water users rely, and interfere with water supplies to existing alluvial wells below the canal. Changes may also impact well usage. Incremental increases in reservoir evaporation also may occur, Issues of on-farm water supply are: water may be delivered at different times, for different periods, and at different rates; some irrigators may have been supplied by subirrigation, waste flows off fields, or wells drawing from a water table created by seepage and historic irrigation, and will need to change their method of obtaining water; the ease of moving water among fields may change; stock watering from stock ponds or streams fed by return flows may be affected; weed infestation may increase the necessary ditch cleaning and may increase winter ice in the canals; blowing dust from barren fields may adversely affect the health oflivestock; weed infestation and dust on dried up lands may require more intense cultivation on irrigated lands; revegetation with continued watering may be required, These issues are addressed by engineering analysis, application of agronomy and soil science, and improvements in farm !operations, and may be the subjects of water court decree terms and conditions, Irrigators feel financial effects, A variety of irrigators' property rights in land and water may be affected. Undue restrictions on transfers may infringe on the private property rights of individual water rights holders and reduce the value of their rights. Land and water values may change. A completed transfer may reduce the' value of remaifling land and water if water court decree conditions have not protected against depletions of water supply, or increased operating difficulties or costs; on the other hand, the transfer may make the remaining land and water more valuable to persons desiring to continue irrigating in the atea or to other outside purchasers who will benefit from the precedents established by the initial transfcjr,