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<br />Water Supply Reserve Account – Grant and Loan Program <br />Water Activity Summary Sheet <br /> <br /> <br />Applicant: <br />North Fork Water Conservancy District and the Fire Mountain Canal and Reservoir Co. <br />Water Activity Name: <br /> Sedimentation Management Study for Paonia Reservoir <br />Water Activity Purpose: <br /> Technical Assistance (Feasibility Study) <br />County: <br /> Gunnison <br />Drainage Basin: <br /> North Fork Gunnison <br />Water Source: <br /> North Fork Gunnison <br />Amount Requested: <br /> $79,000 (Basin Account); $230,000 (Statewide Account) <br />Matching Funds: <br />NFWCD, $5,000 and Fire Mtn. Canal Co., $5,000 <br /> <br />Water Activity Summary: <br />Paonia Reservoir was commissioned in 1962, with an original capacity of 21,000 acre-feet. The <br />reservoir has lost approximately 24% of its total capacity as of the last sediment survey in 2002, and <br />storage losses to sediment continue at an annual rate of about 124 acre-feet. At the historic rate of <br />sedimentation, the storage volume will be completely displaced by sediment within the next 125 <br />years. Nearly all of the dead and inactive pools (storage reserved by the U.S. Federal Government) <br />have presently been depleted due to sedimentation losses and active storage is currently being <br />encroached on. <br /> <br />A large sedimentation delta has been forming and moving toward the dam since the reservoir was <br />placed in operation and has migrated downstream over 80 percent of the length of the reservoir to <br />within 3,000 feet of the dam. This delta is expected to reach the dam within the next decade or two. <br />Once that happens the scope of negative impacts is expected to increase. The accumulation of <br />sediment around the outlet’s intake structure is expected to adversely affect the reservoir outlet in <br />ways that may harmfully impact the ability to control the reservoir in a manner consistent with <br />historic operation, in accordance with downstream demands for storage releases and in a way which <br />avoids detrimental downstream environmental impacts. Objective <br /> <br />The result is that storage water which has historically been used for agriculture and other purposes is <br />being lost and conditions are developing which may jeopardize the ability to judiciously operate the <br />reservoir. In addition to irrigation water, the Paonia Reservoir provides flatwater recreation, fishing, <br />improved late season flows to the North Fork of the Gunnison River, flood control for downstream <br />towns and developments such as the towns of Paonia and Hotchkiss, water for downstream calls <br />(specifically calls placed by Redlands Water and Power Company), water to supplement normal late <br />summer low stream flows and existing as well as potential future augmentation water. All these uses <br />will be curtailed if no solution to the sediment problem is found. Additionally, use of the water to fill <br />present augmentation needs is limited based on the uncertainty of future availability of committed <br />pool volumes. There are no other currently available irrigation options for the farms and ranches in <br />this area that presently rely on water stored in Paonia Reservoir and, without some action, there will <br />be a devastating impact on existing agricultural water users. Unless the storage volume in the <br />reservoir can be maintained or restored, the only alternatives will be to abandon the existing storage <br />rights or to build additional storage projects in the same drainage basin at a much higher cost. <br /> 1 <br /> <br />