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Lemon Reservoir Storage Rights <br />Name Adjud. Date Approp. Date Admin. No. Amount <br />Lemon Reservoir 03-21- 1966 06-10-1936 31572.00000 40,240 ac-ft <br />Lemon Reservoir 12-31- 1991 07-01-1965 51499.42185 7,760 ac-ft <br />Florida Power 12-31- 1985 09-30-1983 49308.48850 11 cfs <br />Generation Station. The second storage right listed is a refill right for the reservoir. An <br />additional 32,440 acre-feet of the refill decree remains conditional. The direct flow right for 11 <br />cfs is decreed for hydro-electric power generation at the outlet of Lemon Reservoir. <br />Lemon Reservoir is normally operated to keep the level of the reservoir fairly constant through <br />the months of October, November and December. Forecasts for the anticipated snowmelt <br />runoff into the reservoir are provided by the National Weather Service on a monthly basis, <br />beginning in January and updated through July. During January, February and March, the <br />amount of storage capacity required for flood control is determined using relations developed <br />by the Corps of Engineers and releases are made to make the flood control space available as <br />necessary. Releases from Lemon Reservoir are normally adjusted to maintain the flow of the <br />Florida River below 1,000 cfs. Peak snowmelt runoff occurs during the months of April <br />through July. During these months, the reservoir releases are controlled to satisfy downstream <br />irrigation demands and to reserve the necessary flood control volumes required by the <br />forecasts. As the inflow begins to drop off in late June or early July, the storage water is <br />released to supplement downstream irrigation demands through the remainder of the irrigation <br />season. Records of the historical inflows and releases at the reservoir and the historical contents <br />are maintained by the District and the USBR. <br />The United States has agreed to maintain a minimum streamflow of 4 cfs in the Florida River <br />between the dam and the headgate of the Florida Farmers Ditch. The city of Durango also <br />owns senior direct flow water rights on the Florida River which total about 8.9 cfs. <br />Accordingly, the minimum release could vary from 4 cfs to 12.9 cfs, depending on the city's <br />demands and the gains to the river downstream of the dam. Normally during the non-irrigation <br />season, the city's demands are less than 4 cfs. It is noted that the Colorado Water Conservation <br />Board has also filed for a minimum instream flow right for the reach of the river below the <br />dam, being 7 cfs from July 1 through October 14 and 14 cfs for the remainder of the year. <br />Operation of the new hydro-electric generation facility at the dam (ll cfs) is consistent with the <br />bypass/release for minimum flow requirements. <br />The Florida Proj ect is operated to provide an annual yield, measured at the water users' <br />headgates, of 25,740 acre-feet per year. This represents a 100 percent allocation of the Project <br />supply and each "acre-foot unit" represents 1/25,740th of the available supply. These acre-foot <br />units are owned by the various individuals who own and irrigate the project lands. According <br />to the Florida Water Conservancy District, the historical allocation has never been less than <br />100 percent and frequently, the annual allocation is established at greater than 100 percent. The <br />prof ect water supply is very specifically tied to only the 19,450 acres originally designated by <br />the USBR. No expansion of acreage is allowed. The remainder of the active storage capacity in <br />San Juan & Dolores River Basin Information 2-16 <br />