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2) Loveland Greeley Canal (Structure ID 0400532) <br />The Loveland Greeley Canal headgate consists of two 15-foot radial gates on the north side of <br />the Big Thompson River below the Barnes Ditch and Rist & Goss Ditch headgates, located as <br />shown on Figure 1. The Loveland Greeley Canal is an earthen canal and includes the original <br />Chubbuck Ditch and the ditch extension toward the City of Greeley. The Loveland Greeley <br />Canal is used to deliver direct flow water and can deliver storage water to Boyd Lake. <br />Length: Approximately 60 miles, including laterals under the Oklahoma Ditch, Boomerang <br />Ditch, and Grapevine Ditch systems <br />Capacity: The capacity of the Loveland Greeley Canal is 220 cfs <br />Measurement Device: Diversions through the Loveland Greeley Canal are measured via a 15- <br />foot, concrete Parshall flume with a Stevens recorder located about 400 feet down ditch. <br />Conveyance Efficiency: GLIC charges an annual shrink (loss) of 22 percent associated with <br />system deliveries, which they estimate comes equally from shrink in the canals and <br />shrink from storage. Therefore, 100 ac-ft of supply from direct flow and storage rights <br />would yield 78 ac-ft at the farm headgate. <br />Return Flow Locations: The Loveland Greeley Canal serves the area west of Interstate 25 <br />along and around the topographical divide between the Cache la Poudre River basin and <br />the Big Thompson River basin. As such, irrigated lands under the canal do not gain much <br />return flows from surrounding areas. The practice of reusing tailwater is minimal under <br />the GLIC system. Although the canal gains the small amount of return flows from ditch <br />water used to sprinkler-irrigate lands, the runoff from flood-irrigated acreage is typically <br />conveyed down on-farm laterals into the receiving river basins above the City of Greeley. <br />Irrigated Crops: According to GLIC, the company serves approximately 20,000 acres of <br />irrigated lands. Only a small portion of these lands are located west of Interstate 25. <br />There is minimal commingling of water sources from other ditch systems on lands <br />irrigated under the GLIC system. The HydroBase database has 16,000 acres listed total <br />under the GLIC system (Barnes Ditch - 1,000 acres + Loveland Greeley Canal - 15,000 <br />acres) <br />According to GLIC, crops grown, with approximate percentage of total acreage under <br />these crops, include corn (50 percent), alfalfa (30 percent), winter wheat /spring grains <br />(10 to 15 percent), and sugar beets /beans (5 to 10 percent). Sugar beets under irrigation <br />are mostly located under the Oklahoma Lateral. Lands under the GLIC system served by <br />surface water supplies are irrigated via sprinkler (approximately 50 percent) and via flood <br />irrigation (approximately 50 percent). The use of sprinklers has become more common <br />over the last 20 years although predominantly to pump surface water supplies stored in <br />ponds on individual irrigators' properties. Ground water supplies are not used very much <br />within the GLIC system. <br />Greeley Loveland Irrigation Company Operating Memorandum.doc 6 of 18 January 5, 2005 <br />