Laserfiche WebLink
Irrigation Company controls most of the other diversions, canals and reservoirs in the basin. A <br />straight-line diagram for the Trinchera Creek basin is provided as Attachment 1. <br />Flows within the Trinchera Creek system below the Forbes Ranch diversions and down to Smith <br />Reservoir are controlled by TIC. TIC has two major storage reservoirs, Mountain Home and <br />Smith Reservoirs, and several carrier ditches that allow it to effectively control the surface water <br />flows in the system. Both TIC and Forbes have alternate points of diversions allowing them to <br />take water anywhere. The carrier ditches allow TIC to freely move water between Trinchera, <br />Sangre de Cristo and Ute Creeks as desired to serve irrigation demands. This allows TIC to make <br />efficient use of the water but creates administrative and record-keeping problems for the <br />Commissioner. Historically, District 35 Commissioners have often allowed TIC manage the <br />water in the basin without much intervention. However, the needs of irrigators downstream of <br />TIC recently resulted in a lawsuit in the basin. <br />Use of direct flow rights typically begins by TIC during April, and by Forbes during May. <br />However, the irrigators downstream of Smith Reservoir often begin sub-irrigation activities <br />earlier when the weather allows. <br />The District Commissioner is aware of several diversions structures and canal systems that have <br />physical capacities that are less than their total decreed water rights. For example, the Trinchera <br />Canal, with decrees totaling approximately 291 cfs is only able to physically divert and carry <br />about 60 cfs. The Commissioner indicated that examination of historical diversion records may <br />well be the best indicator of actual capacities of diversion structures in the district. <br />The Commissioner's water rights priority listings for Trinchera Creek, Ute Creek and Sangre De <br />Cristo Creek are provided as Attachments 2, 3, and 4. <br />Drainage and Seepage Ditches <br />No major drains or seepage ditches occur in District 35. However, Sand Creek often provides <br />water to the Closed Basin Project if it is not used on the Medano Ranch. The U.S. Bureau of <br />Reclamation is currently designing a bypass siphon to deliver water to a wetland area (not for <br />delivery into the Closed Basin Canal except in emergency situations). <br />Key Structures <br />To assist in the development of a surface water model of the Rio Grande as part of the RGDSS, <br />discussions with the District 35 Commissioner included the identification of "key" diversion <br />structures. Key structures were defined as those that significantly effect water rights <br />administration in the District. The criteria that were used to identify key structures included: <br />• total decreed water right amount under the structure (greater than 5 cfs); <br />• water right priority, either senior or swing rights as identified by the water <br />commissioner during the interview; <br />• relatively large amounts of land irrigated under the structure (250 acres and <br />greater); and <br />• represented in previous modeling efforts. <br />A list of all structures within District 35 is provided as Attachment 5. Fora 5 cfs cutoff, 52 key <br />structures exist in District 35 that represent approximately 97% of the decreed rights in District <br />C:Acdss\D35_Mem.doc District 35 Interview July 2, 1999 -Page 3 of 6 <br />