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Mancos Valley Beaver Ditch Loan Application 6/3/2004 7:28 AM orw <br />Mancos Valley Beaver Ditch Company <br />Pipeline Project <br />Introduction <br />The Mancos Valley Beaver Ditch Company (Company) manages the Mancos Valley Beaver Ditch <br />(the Ditch) for the benefit of the Members as an association of owners of water rights and lands <br />served by the Ditch. Irrigation water is diverted from the Mancos River, southwest of the Town of <br />Mancos in Montezuma County Colorado, and carried in the Ditch to the 700 -acne Member service <br />area, The Ditch is approximately 23,000 feet in length, serves 4 Membersr and carries a maximum <br />flow of approximately 10.5 cubic feet per second. The Company proposes to upgrade the Ditch by <br />installing a pipeline in the Ditch easement for a distance of approximately 23,000 feet. <br />Project Sponsor <br />The Company is a non -profit corporation registered in the State of Colorado. There are four <br />Members in the Company. The Company has the power to assess the Members for operations, <br />maintenance and administrative costs. The Members have entered into a Funding Agreement <br />with the Company for repayment of the loan that will be used to finance Project costs. All of the <br />Members' irrigation water will be carried in the pipeline, and the loan repayment will be shared <br />by the Members according to the project cost share distributed in proportion to the maximum <br />adjudicated water flow in cubic feet per second(cfs) carried on behalf of each Member sharing <br />their common pipeline. The Total of the Member's water flow rate is 10.5 cfs. The Company <br />Articles of Incorporation, By -laws and Funding Agreement are included in Appendix A. <br />Project Service Area and Facilities <br />Irrigated acreage within the service area is primarily used for cattle ranching and to grow hay. <br />Hay crop is used as cattle feed, or is sold. A map of the Ditch and photos of the existing <br />diversion and a map of the service area are in the back pocket of this report. <br />Hydrology and Water Rights <br />The source of water for the Ditch is direct flow water rights out of the Mancos River. The water <br />diverted at the head gate consists of 16 adjudicated rights with dates of appropriation ranging <br />from 1878 to 1891 and totaling 10.5 cfs plus 4 rights to storage water in the Jackson Gulch <br />Reservoir that are used mostly to supplement the adjudicated rights late in the irrigation season <br />Records of the State Engineer's Office indicate that total average annual diversions are 1431 <br />acre -feet, for years 1974 through 2003, and that the maximum diversion was 2493 acre - <br />feet1982. A summary of water rights and the State Engineer Diversion records for 1974 -2002 <br />are found in Appendix B. <br />Project Description and Alternatives <br />The Natural Resources Conservation Service of the US Department of Agriculture (NRCS) has <br />expanded the Salinity Control Area in Montezuma County to include the Mancos Valley. The <br />Page 5 of 15 pages <br />