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Water Supply Reserve Account - Grant Application Form <br />Form Revised May 2007 <br />• Forty two ditch companies will benefit from this Project, twelve on the North Branch and thirty on the main <br />channel. <br />• 21,600 primary irrigated acres, as a result of this activity, will benefit from improved function of the river. <br />• The Richfield system, comprising 3,250 secondary acres, will be able to access water through their own <br />diversion structure instead of through the North Branch diversion. <br />• This Project brings together land owners and share holders affected by this Project through the <br />proactive involvement of Conejos County Water Conservation District, Division of Wildlife, Conejos <br />County Commissioners, Colorado Division of Water Resources Division III, Rio Grande Water <br />Conservation District, and Natural Resources Conservation Service. <br />• The proposed channel stabilization work directly protects the communities and land owners <br />downstream from this Project from flooding and directly reduces the loss of Rio Grande Compact <br />waters. <br />• The Project addresses intrabasin and interbasin needs to recharge the aquifer, to improve riparian <br />habitat, to increase and improve fish habitat, and to improve water quality. <br />Facilitating Water Activity Implementation <br />c. How funding will reduce uncertainty that water activity will be implemented: <br />Without funding from this account this Project would not be possible. Amlual budgets for MLI and <br />other stakeholders are based on annual assessments set by the members, all of whom are farmers and <br />water users in this remote rural agricultural community. The amount of money MLI has is directly <br />related to its assessments, and these are determined by the economic capabilities of the company's <br />stockl7olders and influenced by what the local economy can bear. According to statistics from the San <br />Luis Valley's Development Resources Group, Conejos County has three tunes the poverty level of the <br />State average. MLI simply does not have the funds to complete this project. With funds from the <br />Water Supply Reserve Account this project is assured. Without those funds this Project will not be <br />possible. <br />d. Urgency of need: <br />• The urgency of this Project is based on the widespread recognition that all stakeholders have an <br />extremely dangerous situation at this diversion. Every year landowners risk injury and death battling <br />the log jams and debris, using long hooks to disentangle the mess, and often falling into the water. A <br />few years ago Tom Culler was working on the catwalk when a log shifted, pulled him ruder the water, <br />and shoved him into gate. Somehow he emerged on the other side, after almost drowning. <br />• Water must never be allowed, due to bank erosion and change in elevation, to breach the north bank of <br />the main channel of the Conejos. If this were to happen, the river chamlel would change course and the <br />integrity of the state's control over flows of the Conejos at this diversion would be lost, causing the <br />flooding of areas north of the Conejos as well as the town of Manassa (see flood plain map in Exhibit <br />B). <br />8