Laserfiche WebLink
<br />001553 <br /> <br />Water Resources <br /> <br />While the Plateau Creek pipeline is being reconstructed, the pump plant will be the primary <br />water supply during the winter and spring. Consequently, until the pipeline project is completed, <br />severe impacts to water supplies for Grand Valley residents could occur for 9 months each year. <br />Even after the pipeline is complete, the pump plant will still be needed as a backup water supply. <br />Therefore, Reclamation and Ute Water would implement one of the options discussed on page 14 <br />of Chapter 2 before removing the dam. Delivering water to the pump plant via the Orchard Mesa <br />Power Canal is the most cost effective alternative. Any of the other options would result in Dam <br />Removal costs exceeding those of the Fish Ladder alternatives, <br /> <br />Ute Water anticipates construction of their new Plateau Creek pipeline will be complete by the <br />fall of 2002. Ute Water expects the new pipeline to be much more reliable, which will reduce <br />their use of the pump plant as an emergency backup water supply. Consequently, Ute Water <br />would be more receptive to mitigation measures for dam removal after the new pipeline is <br />completed (meeting with Ute Water, 4/7/99). <br /> <br />Water Rights <br /> <br />Issue: Owners of existing water rights with decreed points of diversion at the Price- <br />Stubb Diversion Dam have raised issues regarding potential impacts and the future utilization of <br />their water rights under the Dam Removal alternative. <br /> <br />Existing Conditions: Three existing water rights cite the Price-Stubb Diversion Dam <br />as their decreed point of diversion. The first of these is a 573 cfs water right for power generation <br />with an appropriation3 date of October 1, 1889 and adjudication4 date of July 22, 1912. This <br />right is owned by the Palisade Irrigation District (Pill) and was used to operate hydraulic pumps <br />to lift their irrigation water. The power right has not been used since 1918; since then, Pill's <br />water has been delivered through the Government Highline Canal. The Palisade Irrigation <br />District has retained the right to use the power right to pump irrigation water if irrigation <br />deliveries cannot be made through the Government Highline Canal. <br /> <br />The second right is a 2,100 cfs conditional water right5 for hydroelectric power generation with <br />an appropriation date of December 20, 1980 and an adjudication date of December 31, 1983. <br />This right is owned by Mr, Eric Jacobson and is associated with the proposed Jacobson Hydro <br />No.1 Project, which would use the Price-Stubb Dam to divert Colorado River flows to its <br />hydropower plant. <br /> <br />The third right is a 120 cfs water right for domestic, municipal and industrial uses with an <br />appropriation date of February 17,1947 and adjudication date of July 25,1959. Eighty cfs ofthis <br /> <br />3 Appropriation: applying water to a beneficial use. Often used interchangeably with the term water right. <br />4 Adjudication: the judicial process through which existence of a water right is confirmed by court decree. <br />5 Conditional water right: an appropriation that has not yet been made absolute by the water court. <br /> <br />21 <br />