Rio Grande - Rio Grande Reservoir Multi-Use Enlargement_Application Addendum

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t~ Itt Mr. Travis Smith, Superintendent October 16, 2003 Page 2 commands a drainage area of 163 square miles, which is about 12 percent of the drainage area above the Del Norte stream gaging station. The reservoir was constructed during 1910-14 to a capacity of approximately 46,000 acre..feet. At a later time, but prior to 1934, the dam was raised to provide a total capacity of approximately 52,248 acre-feet. The two water storage rights for the Rio Grande Reservoir are 45,833 acre-feet under Priority No. 1 916-63A and 5,280 acre-feet under Priority No. 1934-2 for a total of 51,113 acre-feet. Both of these water storage rights pre-date the Rio Grande Compact It appears that the actual capacity of the reservoir exceeds its decreed capacity by approximately 1,135 acre-feet Water is released from Rio Grande Reservoir for delivery to the Farmers Union' Canal which diverts from the north bank of the Rio Grande about 4 miles east of Del Norte. See:., Figure 2. The water rights held by the San Luis Valley Irrjgation District for the Farmers Union Canal amount to a total of 801.45 cfs under priorities ranging from No. 308 to No. 1903-34-G.. There are a total of 52,012 acres in the district and eligible to receive water. The reservoirs on the Rio Grande in Colorado begin storing water in the fall when the direct flow ditches Ushut off' for the season, normally around November 1 ~ They store through the winter and into the spring until the senior direct flow water rights call out the junior reservoir storage rights. TypicallY1 they store again during the runoff when the runoff is sufficient to satisfy the demands from the senior direct flow rights. . Table 1 shows the beginning-af-month contents in Rio Grande Reservoir during water years 1946-2002. These data were obtained from Division of Water Resources records except that missing data were filled in through interpolation between reported storage contents. As can be expectedf the reservoir contents normally were highest at the beginning of June or July and lowest at the beginning of September or October. These records and Rio Grande daily reports indicate that Rio Grande Reservoir filled or nearly filled in a total of 15 years in the 57-year period - specifically 1948-49, 1952, 1957-58, 1962, 1965, 1973, 1984-87, 1995, 1997, and 1999. It should be noted that not all of the water in the reservoir was stored under Rio Grande Reservoir water storage rights as some was direct flow storage, compact storagei and Santa Marja and Continental Reservoir water stored by exchange.