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INTRODUCTION The Tilton Lateral Irri~ation System was established in the early decades of the twentieth century to serve a~ricultural lands south of the main Grand Valley Canal and between 29 and 30 Roads, south of the D&RGW (now UP) Railroad tracks and north of the Mesa County Ditch which runs westerly thru Tilton Lateral's southerly boundary. Tilton Lateral also serves four properties alon~ D-Road, which are too elev- ated to draw from the Grand Valley Ditch alon~ which they abut. The Tilton Lateral service area encompasses some 177 acres, and cur- rently serves 30 customers. The main customer base fronts alon~ D-1/2 Road, served by two main branches, one alon~ the railroad, and another alon~ the south side of D-1/2 Road. A small branch serves a few domestic customers on Harmony Road between North Avenue and the 1-70 Business Loop, and another branch reaches 1400 feet south from D-1/2 Road to four a~ricultural properties frontin~ on D-Road. The Tilton System also accepts back into it's network, excess irri~a- tion from other systems north of North Avenue. The ori~inal system was a series of all open ditches. Over the years a variety of up~rades were implemented to maintain service, ~enerally piecemeal, on an 'as needed' basis. The result was a mis-match of open lined and unlined trenches, with some under~ound piped se~ments. Generally, those under~round se~ments were piped u$in~ thin-walled plastic or corru~ated metal pipe,which is today collapsed or corroded and in need of replacement. Each year the need becomes ~reater for up~radin~ of the entire system. By the late 1980's, the system had become so non-functional that few customers could ~et sufficient water for profitable farmin~ to remain an economic reality. At that time, the Tilton Lateral, Inc. came to~ether to pool customer resources in order to re-establish a work- able delivery system. Incorporation was fully formalized in 1991. It is that system of up~rades, done on the most economical basis at that time, that we have today. Each year, various areas require on- ~oin~ maintenance, due to collapsed pipes, rusted-out pipes, settled ditches, cracked and collapsin~ concrete structures, and over~rowth, in the case of the unlined ditches, which require re~ular and incess- ant maintenance. Some areas are too flat to allow delivery of the customers full allotment of water. Some customers have to draw water out of the waste ditches, due to there bein~ no delivery system extendin~ directly to their parcels. Incrementally, Tilton Lateral has up~raded the more critical parts of it's system, to the point, where now, the northerly side of it's sys- tem is fully piped. The D-1/2 Road service main is nearly fully up- ~raded from the tracks to D-l/2 Road, with only a few hundred feet of that still remainin~ in serious need of replacement. The railroad recently replaced the pipe-crossin~ under their mainline but in doin~ so,destroyed fifteen feet of connection from that outlet to where our distribution network begins. Another temporary repair there will be necessary before the 2001 irri~ation season. This is the system that exists today. It is this lower distribution area that now needs complete re-buildin~.