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. ~ \NestWater Engineering -..; ~" ~:--,T..--:-.' '-r-:--~. -:"'(_.....~ Consulting Englneors ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 502 WEST EIGHTH ST. P.O. BOX 1470 - PALISADE. COLORADO 81526 1303) 464.5134 September 15, 1992 Mayor & Board of Trustees Town of Norwood P.O. Box 528 Norwood, CO 81423 R~: Response to CWCB Review of Preliminary Engineering Report Dear Members of the Board, Mr. Frank Akers of the Colorado Water Conservation Board offered two comments in his letter of August 12, 1992 regarding the Preliminary Engineering report for the Norwood- Wrights Mesa water system. These were 1) the need to establish a legal source of reliable raw water for the project, and 2) a request for a more detailed financial analysis of the proposed project. The Town does have adequate legal sources of raw water; these were listed in Table IV-C on page 45a of the Report. However, as pointed out in the report, a major problem is that there are no long range records of flow diversions from the various raw water sources and no way to determine minimum reliable flows. Based upon information provided by the operators, we estimated that the minimum reliable supply in a drought year was 133 to 206 acre feet. The average annual demand for the present was estimated to be 167 acre feet. This would grow to 223 acre feet within the next 20 years. Although accurate flow records are not available, I believe W~: ca-,(,i r"e~: y O"rJ. 'IEr.:~}J~i'~~~'iu f:e; xp-e r i e"n e" "=01-.:1 r. 1n./J p;:: =-t.. d r () u gh t periods to prove that there is an adequate water source for the Town of Norwood/Wrights Mesa Water System. The period of 1986 through 1991 was one of the worst drought periods in the history of southwest Colorado. In 1990, the Farmers Water Development Company, which operates Gurley Reservoir, curtailed irrigation water deliveries at the earliest date in history (approximately mid July of that year) due to a lack of water. However, it is important to note that there was water available in Gurley Reservoir even during that year, and water continued to flow into the reservoir throughout the year. This water was released downstream to the Town of Norwood's intake for municipal uses. It is also important to note that many of the irrigators that use water from Gurley Reservoir obtain their drinking water from the Norwood- Wrights Mesa system, and it is certainly to their benefit to hold back water for municipal and livestock watering uses. Since the municipal uses are probably less than 1% of the WATER WORKS AND SEWERAGE FACILITIES. DRAINAGE AND IRRIGATION SYSTEMS. WATER QUALITY STUDIES _..C_~ L -- __ ~.l.' _ _.L o.~~.;_.. ... ~"