PROJC01741 ‎(3)‎

• Contract/PO #: C153768
• Contractor Name: Lower Arkansas Water Management Association
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 67
• County: Bent
• County: Prowers
• Bill Number: SB 96-124
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
:1
I
I

Engineer's office identified and measured irrigated acreages under the Amity system from
several sets of aerial photographs for the Kansas v. Colorado litigation. For 1950 through 1985,
the measured acreage averaged 39,005 acres. Also the Fort Lyon Canal diverts water for the
Amity pursuant to a contractual arrangement for storage in the Great Plains Reservoir System.
Such water is delivered to the Amity's Kickingbird Canal, is regulated by the Great Plains
Reservoirs, and is delivered to the Amity Canal at a point about 10 miles northeast of Lamar.
The Amity has an Article 1\1 storage account which allows the Amity to store up to 50,000 acre-
feet annually in John Martin Reservoir instead of the Great Plains Reservoirs. The Amity is
charged 35 percent of the stored water for the use of the account. The Amity Canal also diverts
water from several drains and creeks.

The canal system is operated in 4 distinct divisions. Water is delivered in each division
to each shareholder at a rate and for a specific period of time as established by the board of
directors. All shareholders in a division receive their allotment before the water is delivered to
the next division. For example, in 1990, the Amity provided 8.0 "runs" or rotations of water for
its stockholders and in 1991 there were 5.5 runs.

Water Riahts. Table 4 shows pertinent aspects of the Amity's direct flow and storage rights.
The Amity's two direct flow rights for the Arkansas River total 783.5 cfs and the storage right is
for 265,552 acre-feet. Additionally, the Amity diverts water from several drains and draws.

Diversions. The river diversions and storage releases averaged 88,042 acre-feet annually for
1950 through 1994 as shown in Table 11 and ranged from 17,711 acre-feet in 1964 to 138,291
acre-feet in 1988. For 1980 through 1994 the water supplies averaged 104,549 acre-feet
annually.

Irriaated Croos. The irrigated crop distribution for 1950 through 1985 (1990, Boyle) averaged:

Alfalfa....................................................... 38.60/0
Grain sorghum .........................................33.1 %
Winter wheat............................................11.3%

Com...... ....... ................ ........................ ......8.90/0

Spring grains.............................................. 3.9%

Sugar beets................................................ 2.4%

Hay grains..... .............................. ............... 1.7%

Other. ............. ............................ ................0.1 Ok

Historical Consumotive Use. A water budget described earlier in this report, was prepared for
1950 through 1994 to assess the historical consumptive use attributable to irrigated crops under

Page 10