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<br />~ <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />feet which is 73 percent of the total of river diversions and <br />acre- <br />intercepted runoff. <br />The Johns Flood Ditch shares the diversion faci I ities and headgate <br />of the Model Ditch on the Purgatoire River northeast of Trinidad. The <br />aitch is about eight miles in length and was used in the irrigation of <br />approximately 2,000 acres of land near the town of Hoehne. Crops <br />grown under the ditch included alfalfa, corn, sma I I grains, and pasture <br /> <br />grass. <br />MLI owns 60.5 percent of the outstanding stock of the Johns Flood <br />Ditch Company and, therefore owns 60.5 percent of the water rights <br />owned by the Johns Flood Ditch Company. These water rights owned by <br />MLJ include a total of 67.65 cfs of priorities #9, #15, #20, #27, and <br />4145. In addition, MLI owns 5.25 cfs of priorities #5t #13t and #20 <br />that are used from the Johns Flood Ditch. <br />For the 1950-1976 study period, annual river diversions on the <br />MLI water rights in the Johns Flood Ditch averaged 4,044 acre-feet <br />with a maximum of 6,102 acre-feet and a minimum of 2t 180 acre-feet. <br />These diversions amounted to 55 percent of the total Johns Flood Ditcn <br />diversions. The relative diversions attributable to each of the water <br />rights were determined based on the assumption that the w~ter was diverted <br />strictly in order of priority. <br />The depletions to the river of water diverted under water rights <br />owned by MLI in the Johns Flood Ditch were determined. The annual <br />depletions averaged 1,961 acre-feet or 48 percent of the river diversions. <br />The Johns Lake water right has not been used for beneficial purposes <br />for many years. Thus, the value of that water rights is small. <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />Purgatoire River System <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />The flow of the Purgatoire River is extremely variable from year <br />to year. The average annual flow at Trinidad since 1950 was 47,200 <br />acre-feet with a maximum of 120,800 acre-feet and a minimum 0; 15,190 <br />acre-feet. The majority of water utilization on the river occurs below <br />Trinidad Reservoir in the Trinidad area. Water is physically avai lable <br />most of the time to supply the demands or water rights through priority <br />~7. Water rights junior to #27 are the least dependable. <br /> <br />3 <br />