Del Norte System Improvements Applic

• Project Type: Ag/Muni Grant
• Applicant: Town of Del Norte
• Project Name: First Phase Water Improvements Project
• Title: Grant Application
• Date: 11/27/1996
• County: Rio Grande
• Water Conservation - Doc Type: Application

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Table 1
WATER USAGE (Millions of Gallons)

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Water Year
Months 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
November 13.99 13.75 8.55 10.67 15.43
December 11.65 12.29 42.88 9.91 14.02
January 13 .46 11.51 16.35 68.50 14.11
February 10.63 11.21 12.95 11.48 15.36
March 12.38 12.28 11.28 17.41 18,31
April 18.42 27.69 17.14 15.32 11.49
May 29.84 19.05 26.16 32.72 40.54
June 31.18 31.82 37.92 46.07 39.23
July 30.96 32.25 50.23 52.33 40.14
August 29.80 22.71 25.40 33.61 32.86
September 19.89 23.88 19.42 27.11 26.19
October 19.22 20.20 18.26 17.49 22.91
Total 241.42 238.63 286.53 342.60 290.59
Monthly 20.12 19.89 23.88 28.55 24.22
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During the very dry month of June, 1996, the Town was experiencing difficulty maintaining
water levels in the reservoirs within the Town. The water treatment plant was not producing
water, so the supply was entirely from the two municipal wells, which according to recent
measurements have a combined pumping capacity of :I: 1,450 g.p.m. During peak usage in the
middle of the day, reservoir storage was declining and then was slowly replenished at night.
From observation of reservoir storage changes, it was estimated that peak usage reached :1:1,700
g.p.m.

A review of usage records presented in Table 1, indicates minimum monthly usage was 8.55
million gallons in November, 1993 water year and maximum usage was 68.50 million gallons in
January, 1994. Using a service population of 1,750 people, per capita usage has varied from 163
- 1,263 gallons per day. Average annual usage has varied from 374 to 536 gallons per capita per
day (gpcpd). A newspaper article written during the 1977 drought indicated that Denver's
average water usage with water rationing was 206 gallons per capita per day while Boulder's
usage with the recent installation of individual service meters had decreased from 200 gpcpd to
160 gpcpd.

C. Water Rights Compared to Usage

The Town of Del Norte owns municipal water rights permitting diversion from two wells and
Pinos Creek through a water treatment plant (WTP) at a location :1:5 miles southwest of Del
Norte. Following is a summary of these water rights:

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