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Water Supply Reserve Account - Grant and Loan Program <br />Water Activity Summary Sheet <br />Applicant: West Divide Water Conservancy District <br />Water Activity Name: Feasibility and Design Assessment of Off-Channel Reservoir Sites in the Crystal <br />River Watershed <br />Amount Requested: $40,000 <br />Source of Funds: $40,000 (Colorado Basin Account) <br />Matching Funds: $15,000 <br />Water Activity Purpose: Study - Structural <br />County: Garfield, Pitkin <br />Drainage Basin: Colorado River <br />Water Source: Crystal River <br />Staff Recommendation <br />Staff recommends approval of up to $40,000 from the Colorado Basin Account to help complete the <br />Feasibility and Design Assessment of Off-Channel Reservoir Sites in the Crystal River Watershed project <br />contingent on resolution of the item in the issues/additional needs section. <br />Water Activity Summary: <br />The feasibility assessment and the preliminary design of three small off-channel reservoir sites located <br />within the Crystal River watershed will be cooperatively developed by West Divide and the property owners, <br />and will supply water for agricultural uses, domestic uses, and instream flow uses within the watershed. <br />The Crystal River water supplies are insufficient to satisfy irrigation, residential, and instream flow demands. <br />The lower portion of the river is regularly dry during late summer. Many existing residential water users <br />located in un-incorporated areas do not have a legal water supply. West Divide currently provides <br />augmentation water to about 20 existing water users in the Crystal River watershed, extending from locations <br />near the Town of Carbondale to above the Town of Redstone. This regional augmentation program was <br />adjudicated by the Water Court in Case No. 99CW320 and has historically used water from Ruedi Reservoir <br />to augment the out-of-priority depletions of its customers. <br />Augmentation contracts for these users were granted prior to 2004, at a time when DWR determined that the <br />Crystal River watershed could be included within the District's decreed regional augmentation program. The <br />augmentation program allowed individual water users to obtain well permits for residential properties; such <br />permits would otherwise be difficult to secure. <br />In 2004, the DWR administratively determined that the Crystal River portion of the District's regional <br />augmentation program service area could no longer be operated without injury to senior water rights. As a <br />result of this determination, approximately 20 existing water users no longer have a legal water supply. In <br />addition, it is currently very difficult for other rural residents in the area to obtain well permits or a legal <br />water supply.