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Mancos Valley Beaver Ditch Loan Application 1/4/2006 3:19 PM orw <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 6 adjudicated rights with dates of appropriation ranging <br />from 1878 to 1891 and totaling 12.5 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 />NRCS has approved a Salinity Control Project to place individual irrigation ditches in the <br />Mancos Valley into pipelines to reduce seepage and the amount of salt that leaches into the <br />Mancos River. The Project Plan and Environmental Assessment (the Plan) is included in <br />Appendix C. [NRCS Compact Disk labeled " Mancos Report'] <br />The Mancos Valley Beaver Ditch is included in the Plan and the Company has made application <br />to NRCS for the Mancos Valley Beaver Ditch Pipeline Project on the basis that the NRCS cost <br />share in the Project will be 75% of the total project cost. The benefits to the members of the <br />Company will include: <br />1. eliminate water losses and get all of the water home, <br />2. eliminate cleaning and maintenance of the open ditch, <br />3. a single large pipeline costs much less than several small pipelines for transport of <br />water, <br />4. a 75% cost contribution intended to make the project affordable and spur the water <br />users to organize, agree and make decisions. <br />5. make improvements to the river channel to increase the amount of water reaching the <br />Ditch. <br />6. provide correct measurement and delivery of water to individual water users. <br />7. upgrade the distribution system and produce water pressure to enable better and more <br />cost effective on -farm improvements . <br />Three alternatives were considered by the Members: <br />1. The no- action alternative. <br />2. Individual members construct pipelines to meet their own needs. <br />3. Participate in the NRCS Salinity Control Project. <br />Page 7 of 16 pages <br />