Laserfiche WebLink
All of these systems obtain the majority of their water supplies from Crystal Creek, a tributary of the <br />Gunnison River at Crystal Reservoir. The Crystal Valley Irrigation Ditch irrigates lands riparian to <br />Crystal Creek. The other ditches (the Cattlemens Ditch, the Dyers Fork Ditch, and the Fruitland Mesa <br />Canal) transport the water over a small divide into the Iron Creek basin, a tributary of the Smith Fork. <br />Return flows from this transbasin irrigation all return to the Smith Fork. <br />The senior right on Crystal Creek is the 50 cfs water right owned by the Cattlemens Ditch Company <br />(note that the right is listed in the State's tabulation as the Cedar Canon-Iron Spring Ditch). This ditch <br />irrigates approximately 2,960 acres of irrigated hayland situated generally to the north of Gould <br />Reservoir, east of Iron Creek, and adjacent to the Muddy Creek and Alkali Creek drainages. Return <br />flows accrue to Iron Creek above Crawford Reservoir. This right is the controlling right on Crystal <br />Creek, and the availability of divertible water for the other rights on Crystal Creek is dependent on flows <br />generally being greater than 50 cfs. <br />The next major senior right on Crystal Creek is the Crystal Valley Irrigation Ditch (13.35 cfs), which is <br />used to irrigate approximately 500 acres of hay adjacent to Crystal Creek. The owner of this right <br />(Meeks) also owns several junior rights that are located to divert any flows not needed by the larger <br />ditches as well as irrigation return flows from the Crystal Creek Ditch. <br />The Dyer Fork Ditch holds the next major priority (13.25 cfs) and is used to irrigate approximately 650 <br />acres of hayland in the upper reaches of the Iron Creek basin on the east side of the stream. The majority <br />of the irrigation return flows are intercepted by the Cattlemens Ditch in the area above Gould Reservoir. <br />This transbasin ditch actually diverts from Dyers Fork, a tributary of Crystal Creek, upstream of the <br />Cattlemens Ditch head gate. <br />The largest irrigation system in the Fruitland Mesa area is operated by the Fruitland Irrigation Company <br />(FIC), the owner of the Fruitland Canal. The canal is used to irrigate approximately 7,400 acres on the <br />mesa west of Iron Creek. Irrigation return flows from the Fruitland system generally accrue to the Smith <br />Fork, downstream of the Town of Crawford. The FIC also owns and operates Gould Reservoir (aka <br />Fruitland Reservoir), which has an estimated usable capacity of approximately 8,100 acre-feet <br />(Mugsford). The FIC holds a number of direct flow decrees, which cumulatively total approximately <br />537 cfs, not including a junior, conditional water right for 600 cfs that was decreed as part of the <br />Fruitland Mesa Project. The Fruitland Canal rights are junior to the Cattlemens, Dyers Fork, and Crystal <br />Valley water rights, and generally will divert all of the remaining Crystal Creek flows available at its <br />head gate after the senior diversions except for flood flows that would exceed the physical capacity of <br />the canal at its inlet (400 cfs). The main canal that diverts from Crystal Creek is known as the Highline <br />Ditch and serves as a delivery ditch for a small number of the FIC shareholders with lands located <br />physically above Gould Reservoir; it is also the feeder ditch for the reservoir. Downstream of the turnout <br />on the Highline Ditch that is used to convey water to the reservoir, the physical capacity is approximately <br />60 cfs. The second ditch (the Lowline Ditch or the Gould Canal) also has a capacity of approximately <br />60 cfs and delivers storage water from Gould Reservoir to the service area. The two ditches join at a <br />location approximately three miles northwest of the reservoir into a single supply ditch that has an <br />estimated combined capacity of about 120 cfs. <br />Fruitland Mesa Water Conservancy District <br />The FMWCD was formed in 1960 as the sponsoring agency for the Fruitland Mesa Project, which at that <br />time was authorized as a participating project in the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP). The project <br />was eventually cut from federal funding. The project, as proposed, was intended to provide <br />2 <br />A275 01.09.95 1.15-22 Fosha, Hyre <br />