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<br />001433 <br /> <br />Introduction: <br /> <br />The Purgatoire River Water Conservancy District was formed pursuant to Colorado <br />Revised Statutes, Title 37, Article 45, paragraph 101, et.seq, on December 2,1960. The <br />purpose for the formation of the District was to provide a legal entity capable of contracting <br />with the United States for repayment of the irrigation component assigned to the Trinidad <br />Project and to provide a management entity to oversee and operate the irrigation facilities <br />associated with the Project. <br /> <br />On February 10,1967, the District executed a repayment contract with the United <br />States whereby it assumed a debt of $ 6,465,600, which is to be repaid over a 70 year <br />period. The annual repayment installments vary from $ 118,000 to $ 238,000 depending <br />upon the available water supply for the irrigation season. <br /> <br />The District is governed by a Board consisting of nine members appointed by the <br />Senior District Judge for Las Animas County. The District Board is responsible for, among <br />other things, determining the start and end of the irrigation season, the equitable <br />allocation of water to each of the participating ditches, and declaration of the time when <br />the reservoir is considered to be empty, allowing diversions of natural stream flow to <br />proceed under the Colorado Priority System. <br /> <br />Day to day matters are administered by the District Water Coordinator and the <br />General Manager. The District provides accounting for all irrigation, stockwater and <br />municipal and industrial water releases and diversions utilizing a sophisticated computer <br />model that provides daily accounting of reservoir releases, ditch diversions, and storage <br />accounts. <br /> <br />Project Description: <br /> <br />The main feature of the Trinidad Project is Trinidad Dam which is located several <br />miles west of the City of Trinidad on the Purgatoire River in Las Animas County, Colorado. <br />The dam, which was constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers, is of the earth fill type <br />of construction, having a crest length of approximately 5,930 feet, a height of 208 feet <br />above the stream bed, and a crest elevation of 6,298 feet above mean sea level. <br /> <br />The reservoir created by the dam has a total capacity of 125,967 acre feet, which <br />is allocated to the following uses: <br /> <br />Flood Control: <br />Irrigation and M&I: <br />Permanent Recreation and Fishery: <br />Joint Use and Sediment Pool: <br /> <br />51,000 <br />20,000 <br />- 15,967 <br />39,000 <br /> <br />acre-feet <br />acre-feet <br />acre-feet <br />acre-feet <br /> <br />1 <br />