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<br />Members' irrigation water will be carried in the pipelines and the loan repayment will be <br />shared by the Members in proportion to the number of shares held by each in the Bauer <br />Lakes Water Company. The total of the Member's water delivery rate is 8.3 cfs. The <br />Company Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws and Funding Agreement are included in <br />Appendix A. <br /> <br />Project Service Area and Facilities <br />The Lower Bauer Reservoir provides irrigation water to a service area in Montezuma <br />County, Colorado and is situated in NE/4 Section 17 T36N R13W NMPM. The points of <br />beginning for the proposed pipelines are located in the SE/4NW/4 Section 17 T36N R13W <br />NMPM in Montezuma County approximately 2 miles North of Mancos, Colorado near the <br />junction of County Road 40 and State Highway 184. The route of the pipelines is to be <br />generally along the alignment of the existing ditches. The Outlet Pipeline Extensions will <br />serve approximately 1200 acres. <br /> <br />Irrigated acreage within the service area is primarily used for cattle ranching and to <br />grow hay. Hay crop is used as cattle feed, or is sold. A map of the Lower Bauer <br />Reservoir, the service area and the outlet ditches are in the back pocket of this report. <br /> <br />Hydrology and Water Rights <br />The source of water for the Lower Bauer reservoir is direct flow water rights out of <br />Chicken Creek (a tributary of the Mancos River) plus water stored in Jackson Gulch <br />reservoir. The water rights diverted at the supply ditch head gate on Chicken Creek <br />consist of a 0.5 cfs adjudicated flow right and fill rights for 1073 acre-feet, both dating to <br />1893. The stored water at Jackson Gulch is also picked up at the Chicken Creek head <br />gate. Records of the State Engineer's Office indicate that total average annual <br />diversions are 1335 acre-feet, based on record years 1974 through 2003, and that the <br />maximum diversion rate was 32.5 cfs for record year 1997. The shareholders on the <br />subject Outlet Pipeline Extensions, with 62 out of 87 shares of Lower Bauer water, are <br />entitled to 951 acre-feet out of the average total. A summary of water rights and the <br />State Engineer Diversion records for 1974-2003 are found in Appendix B. <br /> <br />Project Description and Alternatives <br />The Natural Resources Conservation Service of the US Department of Agriculture <br />(NRCS) has expanded the Salinity Control Area in Montezuma County to include the <br />Mancos Valley. The NRCS has approved a Salinity Control Project to place individual <br />irrigation ditches in the Mancos Valley into pipelines to reduce seepage and the amount <br />of salt that leaches into the Mancos River. The Project Plan and Environmental <br />Assessment (the Plan) is included in Appendix C. <br /> <br />The Lower Bauer Reservoir Outlet Pipeline Extensions are needed to complete the piping <br />of the outlet ditches from the Lower Bauer. This action will eliminate leakage and <br />seepage from the ditches; reduce salinity in the Mancos River and its tributaries; deliver <br /> <br />6 <br />