SPDSS_Task5_KeyStructure_NorthSterling

Home Browse Search

The District's direct flow and storage rights can be diverted concurrently. Records from The inlet canal's 460 cfs direct flow decree for irrigation use apparently allows for measurement at the reservoir and a 25% seepage credit, thus allowing for diversion at the South Platte River headgate of up to 613 cfs. OPERATIONAL INFORMATION The District diverts, stores, and delivers water to users within District boundaries. The District extends northeastward from the reservoir and includes lands lying between the outlet canal to the north, and the Iliff and Platte Valley, Powell and Blair, and Harmony No. l ditches to the south. The sequence of water rights calls affecting storage in North Sterling Reservoir in a typical year is as follows: • The District typically begins to fill North Sterling under its senior water right in the first week of October. Although Julesberg Reservoir, located downstream of the North Sterling Reservoir, has a storage decree that is senior to North Sterling, return flows between the two reservoirs typically keep North Sterling from being called out. • North Sterling will store throughout the winter under its senior water right, up to 69,446 acre-feet. • At this point, the call will shift to Prewitt Reservoir, the next storage right in priority in Water District 64. • North Sterling will again store under its junior decrees after Prewitt Reservoir has stored the full amount of its senior decree, as water is available in priority. • North Sterling also captures waters from the Cedar Creek and Pawnee Creek drainages, and may store this water pursuant to their decrees. Supply from these creeks is generally small, although historically there have been short flood periods producing up to 9,000 acre-feet. North Sterling Reservoir typically fills by the middle of March if diversions into storage begin at the beginning of October. In more recent years, as a result of the drought and the operation of several augmentation plans and recharge efforts, the Division 1 Engineer has not allowed the District to begin storage until November. In 1996, the District filed an application to the Water Court for an augmentation plan that will allow the District to provide replacement water for out-of-priority pumping from wells located within the District (Case No. 96CW 1034). The District also recently purchased a gravel pit near the inlet canal. Replacement water from this augmentation plan will come from recharge credits that result from seepage from the North Sterling Inlet Canal, recharge credits from the gravel pit and/or future private ponds along the inlet canal. A final decree in this case has not been entered. In the future, the District may also make water and/or recharge credits available for use in other decreed plans for augmentation. North Sterling Irrigation District.doc Page 10 of 11