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SPDSS Memorandum <br />Final <br />To: Ray Alvarado and Ray Bennett <br />From: LRE -Rick Parsons and Erin Wilson <br />Subject: Task 5 -Key Diversion Structures, Left Hand Ditch System <br />Date: January 5, 2005 <br />INTRODUCTION <br />One of the Task 5 objectives is to: <br />Develop and document an understanding of the operations of key water use facilities in <br />the basin in order to facilitate consumptive use modeling and to support selected data <br />needs for modeling being done by other contractors. This understanding will be <br />developed through interviews with DWR personnel, operators of large canal and <br />reservoir systems, and representatives of federal facilities. <br />Types of key water use facilities include diversion structures, transmountain diversions, <br />reservoirs, and reservoir systems. <br />• Key diversion structures, identified as part of Task 3, include structures representing 85 <br />percent of net decreed rights, structures diverting greater than 1,000 acre-feet per year (ac- <br />ft/yr), and structures of administrative importance. <br />• Key transmountain diversions, identified as part of Task 4, include those structures that <br />transport non-native water from another basin into the South Platte River basin. <br />• Key reservoirs, identified as part of Task 5, include reservoirs or reservoir systems with <br />greater than 10,000 acre-feet (ac-ft) capacity and/or reservoirs that should be included in <br />potential future modeling efforts due to their impact on basin operations. Reservoir systems <br />are defined as a group of reservoirs on the same tributary or filled by the same diversion <br />structure that satisfy a common demand or are operated in a similar fashion. <br />A number of components in the Left Hand Ditch System have been identified as key structures <br />for the South Platte Decision Support System (SPDSS) consumptive use and surface water <br />modeling efforts. The purpose of this Task 5 memorandum is to document physical, legal, and <br />operational aspects of those key structures. <br />The information provided in this memorandum was <br />developed exclusively from publicly accessible sources and <br />discussions with the Water District 5 Water Commissioner, <br />Scott Edgar, and representatives of the ditch company <br />(Richard Behrmann and Terry Plummer). Information in this <br />memorandum is believed to be accurate. However, this <br />information should not be relied upon in any legal <br />Table of Contents Pale <br />Introduction 1 <br />System Overview 2 <br />Physical Information 5 <br />Water Rights 11 <br />Operational Information 14 <br />Comments and Concerns 16 <br />References 1 h <br />