PROJ02054

• Contract/PO #: C150201
• Contractor Name: Carpenter and Mitchell Ditch Company
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 71
• County: Montezuma
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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grow hay. Hay crop is used as cattle feed, or is sold. A map of the Ditch and photos of
- the existing diversion and a map of the service area are in the back pocket of this
report.

Hydrology and Water Rights

The source of water for the Ditch is direct flow water rights out of Chicken Cr~k a
tributary of the Mancos River. The water diverted at the head gate consists of 12
adjudicated rights with dates of appropriation ranging from 1878 to 1890 and totaling
11.25 cfs plus 5 rights to storage water in the Jackson Gulch Reservoir that are used
mostly to supplement the adjudicated rights late in the irrigation season. Records of
the State Engineer's Office indicate that total average annual diversions are 756 acre-
feet, for years 1974 through 2002, and that the maximum diversion was 1161 A-F in
1987. A summary of water rights and the State Engineer Diversion records for 1974-
2002 are found in Appendix B.

Project Description and Alternatives

The Natural Resources Conservation Service of the US Department of Agriculture
(NRCS) has expanded the Salinity Control Area in Montezuma County to include the
Mancos Valley. The NRCS has approved a Salinity Control Project to place individual
irrigation ditches in the Mancos Valley into pipelines to reduce seepage and the
amount of salt that leaches into the Mancos River. The Project Plan and
Environmental Assessment (the Plan) is included in Appendix C.
The Carpenter and Mitchell Ditch is included in the Plan and the Company has made
application to NRCS for the Carpenter and Mitchell Ditch Pipeline Project on the basis
that the NRCS cost share in the Project will be 75% of the total project cost. The
benefits to the members of the Company will include:
eliminate water losses and get all of the water home,
eliminate cleaning and maintenance of the open ditch,
a single large pipeline costs much less than several small pipelines for transport of
water,
a 75% cost contribution intended to make the project affordable and spur the water
users to organize, agree and make decisions.
make improvements to the river channel to increase the amount of water reaching the
Ditch.
provide correct measurement and delivery of water to individual water users.
upgrade the distribution system and produce water pressure to enable better and
more cost effective on-farm improvements .
Three alternatives were considered by the Members: