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McPhee Reservoir Storage Allocations <br />Montezuma Valley Irrigation Co. (Supplemental Irrigation Supply)' 13,900 acre-feet <br />Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (Full Service Irrigation) 23,300 acre-feet <br />Full Service Irrigation (Dove Creek Canal) 55,200 acre-feet <br />Municipal Users (Cortez, Dove Creek, Montezuma Water Co. and g 700 acre-feet <br />Towaoc) <br />Dolores River Fishery 29,300 acre-feet <br />Project water supply for MVIC can vary up to a maximum of 105,500 acre-feet per year. See following discussion. <br />The Montezuma Valley Irrigation Co. (MVIC) is the major user of irrigation water in the <br />Montezuma Valley area around Cortez (See separate discussion of the MVIC in this <br />documentation). The Dolores Project provides supplemental irrigation water to the MVIC <br />through the Dolores Tunnel (WDID 714675) and through the outlet works at the Great Cut <br />Dike (WDID 714674), the latter being a 65-foot high earth dam constructed across a low <br />saddle known as the Great Cut. As part of the negotiated agreements for the construction of the <br />Dolores Project, the MVIC agreed to limit its total irrigation diversions from the Dolores River <br />to no more than 150,400 acre-feet per year, including its project water. Diversions pursuant to <br />the MVIC rights are further limited to no more than 72,000 acre-feet during the months of <br />April, May and June. The MVIC contracted for an allocation of Dolores project water in an <br />amount necessary to fulfill the ideal irrigation requirements on 26,300 acres of irrigable land <br />under the MVIC system. This delivery of project water is estimated to range from 0 to 60,000 <br />acre-feet per year, with an average of about 13,700 acre-feet, delivered at the MVIC system. <br />Theoretically, the MVIC has a contract right to 105,500 acre-feet of project water from <br />McPhee Reservoir, if it were conservatively assumed that the MVIC's senior water rights <br />would have zero yield from their own priorities (26,300 acres x 4.01 acre-feet/acre = 105,500 <br />acre-feet). <br />The Dolores Water Conservancy District (District) also entered into separate agreements with <br />the MVIC which provided: (1) Acquisition by the District of 505 cfs from the MVIC's <br />conditional direct flow right; and (2) Acquisition by the District of 2,300 acre-feet of storage <br />water in the MVIC's Groundhog Reservoir. The latter effectively enables an exchange of water <br />from the District's storage in McPhee Reservoir to the upstream Groundhog Reservoir. The <br />exchange water is then released from Groundhog Reservoir to allow continued diversions by <br />upstream water rights that are junior to the large direct flow rights of the MVIC. In accordance <br />with the exchange agreement, the MVIC receives an equivalent 2,300 acre-feet of storage in <br />McPhee. <br />The project water allocated to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is delivered through the Towaoc- <br />Highline Canal. As part of the Dolores Project and the Colorado River Water Quality <br />Improvement Program (specifically the McElmo Creek Salinity Control Unit), the USBR <br />realigned and enlarged the MVIC's Highline Canal so that it could also serve to deliver the <br />Indian project water. In the process, the MVIC's Rocky Ford Ditch was abandoned in favor of <br />the new ditch and new lateral systems. project water is delivered to the Towaoc-Highline Canal <br />from the Dolores Tunnel via the Towaoc Penstock (and through the new hydroelectric power <br />plant) on Hartman Draw just north of Cortez. From the power plant, the water is delivered <br />San Juan & Dolores River Basin Information 2-13 <br />