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<br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />. <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br />t <br /> <br />FEASIBILITY STUDY <br />EMPIRE RESERVOIR SPILLWAY CONSTRUCTION <br /> <br />Introduction (Need for the Pro;ect) <br /> <br />The Bijou Irrigation District (BID), located near Fort Morgan, Colorado in Weld and Morgan Counties, <br />owns and operates the Empire Reservoir. The location of Empire Reservoir is shown on Figure 1. <br />Empire Reservoir is an off-stream reservoir primarily impounded by four separate dam that were <br />constructed in approximately 1905. Water stored in the reservoir is diverted from the South Platte River <br />and delivered via the Empire Intake Ditch. The water stored in the reservoir is delivered to users through <br />a sister company, Bijou Irrigation Company (BIC), which operates and maintains the distribution system, <br />used for either direct irrigation or exchanges. The Colorado State Engineer's Office (SEa), Dam Safety <br />Branch, has restricted the water surface elevation of the reservoir to gage height 29.0 and has requested <br />the installation of an emergency spillway for the reservoir and an evaluation of the stability of the dams. <br />The spillway once constructed shall provide unrestricted flow of flood storage water out of the reservoir <br />in the event of a flood. The intent of the project is to provide a spillway and other improvements as <br />required by the SEa to restore the normal high waterline to gage height 30.0. This one-foot increase in <br />storage height results in approximately 2,685 acre-feet of recovered storage for Empire Reservoir. <br /> <br />Pro;ect Sponsor <br /> <br />The Bijou Irrigation District is a 1905 Irrigation District operating in Weld and Morgan Counties in the <br />State of Colorado. The BID is a special taxing district that levies a tax per acre, which is associated with <br />each individual landowner's property tax in BID's service area. The BID tax assessment zone currently <br />consists of 19,176.84 acres. Agreements and proceedings regarding the Bijou Irrigation District's <br />operating structure can be found in Appendix A. <br /> <br />Pro;ect Service Area and Facilities <br /> <br />The project service area includes portions of both Weld and Morgan Counties. As mentioned earlier, the <br />BID's service area consists of 19,176.84 acres. No known map of the service area exists, but each parcel <br />in the service area is recorded and a full legal description is on file with the County Assessor's Office. <br />An approximate outline of the service area is shown in Appendix D. <br /> <br />Water Riehts <br /> <br />The District owns water storage rights in Empire Reservoir. Table 1 summarizes these rights. The water <br />storage at gage height 30 is 36,142 acre-feet. <br /> <br />Water Right <br /> <br />Empire Reservoir <br />Empire Reservoir <br /> <br />Appropriation <br />Date <br />5/18/1905 <br />5/18/1905 <br /> <br />Table 1 <br />The Bijou Irrigation District <br />Empire Storaee Rights <br />Adjudication Amount <br />Date (ac-ft) <br />1/15/1914 37,709 <br />6/8/1965 37,709 <br /> <br />Administration <br />Number <br />26302.2 <br />31423.29 <br /> <br />Comment <br /> <br />Refill Right <br /> <br />Feasibility Study <br />Empire Reservoir Spillway Construction <br /> <br />- 1 - <br /> <br />June 2005 <br /> <br />f:\4763 _00 l\feasibility Sludylfeasibility _ Study.'l'I-doc <br />