WSP12346 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

. ' , . . . ~. ' ,.. By JOHN I.A POliTE Times Stall Writer U.S. House Appropriations Com- mittee action recommending $500,000 for preconstruction activities. on the Narrows project near Fort Morgan followed anticipate'll funding, according to Clark Germann, information speciatist with the Denver office of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The bureau's charge from Congress in a $500,000 fiscal year 1982 ap- propriation was to prepare to begin construction in fiscal year 1984. The Appropriations Committee did not recommend any project starts, pending a decision on proposals from the Reagan administration to increase state shares in funding water pro/'ects. Germann said that bureau 0 ficials have been reviewing hyd,'oiogical data, completed geological drllling and mapping of the Narrows dam area and begun upda.tes of design for the dam and reservOIr. A "draft revised addendum to the definite plan report" is being prepared with release planned for February, 1983. That report \. 111 include d..signing and an updat('! of cost and other economic inform.tion. When funding' stopped in 1977, the cost of the Nal'/"ws was estimated at $139 million. , Last January, bureau esUnates, assuming the sa~e design as 1'11!177, were for the proj3ct to cost mO,7e than , $300 million. ' ' , The bureau a .0 plans to ctlntinue coordination wi ,lallIeI' federt.! and state agencies" ':~ prepare fa' 1984 startup of constr"Won, Germam' said. The bureau I '.:jects the dai nand reservoir to b J feasible fro)ll an economic standi l,nt, with a benefit to cost ratio of l-tl'; or betier, Germann said, More detai ('ct information on this area is to be in It ,,(i'ebruary report. ." A draft of a study initiated bY U.S. Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo. and carried out by Woodward-Clyde Consultants, consulting engineers, geologists and environmental scientists with offices in Englewood, indicates a benefit to cost ratio of .10 to one, a return of 10 cents on the dollar. The Woodward-Clyde report shows an active capacity of !I13,000 acre-feet for the project and an c.~timated 102,000 acre-feet of water released annually. Total water deliveries are estimated at 58,900 acre-feet a year. Annual agricultural benefits of $2.6 million are estimated from the Narrows, according to the report. No municipal - water supplies are anticipated, the report notes. Flood control capacity estimated at 475,000 acre-feet with 75,000 acre-feet ,more for joint Irrigation and flood control use would reduce flood damages to ahout 168,000 acres of irrigated and non-irrigated land, a benefit estimatod at $800,000 annuaily. The Woodward-Clyde report deals with numerous other topics in the SOUlll Platte River, The report notes Colorado does riot put to use the lull amount of water in the South Platte to which it is entilled under the Colorado-Nehraska compact governing the river. Thus, in 1!179 Hart proposed the study, for which funding eame Irom the ' Department of Ihe Intel'ior. The report contains a great deal of 'background on stream flows, wildlife and fish, population (increased from 1.48 million in 1970 10 1.96 million in 1900l, and economy (diverse industrial structure overail with lower unem- ployment and higher income averages than the nation as a whole and with the plains area dominated by agriculturel. The report noles urban growth taking place on highly produetive agricullural' ! .-----.---.- --.~"":...!..;..:- lands. Also, though agricuttural land' use is down five percent in Colorado over the past 20 years, irrigated acreage is up about 27 percent, largely due to increased pumping from the Ogallala aquifer in the eastem high plains of Colorado. ; Decreasing water levels and ;In- creasing energy costs are affectIng crop selection, it was'noted. l' The report discusses water ri~hts whicll,.are doll'd out on ,a priority system depending on time' water use applications .were ,medin C9Yf"t, ,co' ,""", 'The appropri~tor must' apply the right to its desillnated beneficIal use to maintain it. ' Seniority determines who reeeiyes water when demand exceeds supply. Since the draft report came out, the doctrines of priority and "maximum beneficial use" whereby upstream users draw water out of priority in "gentlemen's agreements" have clashed. The Lower South Platte Water Conseryancy District has spearheaded a lawsUit calling lor strict enforcement of the priority system and 10rJ!'Cord- \J;.,\ keeping, naming the Riverside Irrigation District, Riverside Reservoir and I.and Co. and Water Commissioner Robert Samples as defendants. The suit is to be discussed at an Oct. 5 district meeiii1g in Sterling with irrigators, who are concerned about effects of the suit on Morgan County wate" supplies to ask direclors of the district to withdraw the suit. The report froni Woodward-Clyde discusses ground water drawn bywells, noting that thousands of dollars were spent to develop wells and an economy worth millions basl'd on those wells. Such wells must be covered by an augmenlation plan to replace the water they pump from the basin. - " That requirement is Ihe basis for existence of Ground Water Ap- propriators of the South Platte, which provides augmentation plans for numerous water users. Besides Narrows, the report explores such development ideas as on-stream storage in the upper reaches of the river, off-channel storage and ground- water recharge. -, ! ,;