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Feasibility Study <br />Park Center Water District <br />Redrilling the Park Center Well <br />INTRODUCTION <br />Park Center Water District (the District), Applicant, is a Special District of the <br />State of Colorado formed by District Court Decree in 1958 (Exhibit A) . The District <br />was formed by irrigators of small ranches and farms to supply themselves with potable <br />drinking water. Until the District was formed, area residents hauled their drinking water <br />and filled cisterns for domestic use, or drank water directly from the ditch, which flowed <br />with the Park Center Well water. Park Center Water District is located on the north side <br />of the City of Canon City, which has its own water delivery system and obtains its water <br />rights from the Arkansas River. Because most of the area within the District is of much <br />higher elevation than the City of Canon, their water delivery system cannot not service <br />the Park Center residents without extensive and expensive pumping stations. The City <br />did not have the funding to build the improvements in the 1960's so the area was left to <br />fend for itself. A group of area residents put together a feasibility study and obtained <br />funding, in the form of loans from Farmers Home Administration (now Rural <br />Development). Until 1995, the sole source of supply was the Park CenterBLM well. <br />The owner of the well, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), began leasing <br />water for irrigation to the Park Center Land and Water Company in 1937. In 1968, Park <br />Center Water District had planned to be a co-lessee of the well water in conjunction with <br />the irrigation company, which had reorganized into Canon Heights Irrigation and <br />Reservoir Company. However, the BLM raised the cost of the well water to the point <br />where it became prohibitive for the irrigators to use, so Park Center became the sole <br />lessee in 1967 and has used the well water every year since and most recently renewed <br />the lease in early 2008. (BLM Lease -Exhibit B). For almost 30 years, the BLM well <br />was the only source of water for the Applicant. Clearly stated in this lease is Applicants <br />preferential right of renewal, which Applicant has exercised to keep the lease in force for <br />the past 40 years. BLM officials have stated that since Applicant has this right, they <br />would not object to the term of the loan being 40-50 years. <br />The Park CenterBLM well was originally drilled as an oil and gas exploration well in <br />1927. The well was abandoned when water was found and the Federal government <br />purchased the well casing and conditioned the well for water production in 1934. In <br />1937, the predecessor of the Canon Heights Irrigation and Reservoir Company entered <br />into a lease with the United States for use of the well water. Water was used primarily <br />for irrigation of an estimated 800 acres on the north side of Canon City. The well is <br />capable of producing approximately 1 million gallons per day. When BLM raised the <br />cost of the well water in 1968, Park Center Water District became the only lessee of the <br />water. Average annual diversions between 1982 and 1991 were 247 acre feet, or <br />80,500,00 gallons. In 1994, diversions from the well were 353 acre feet or 115,000,000 <br />gallons. Since the District began using purchased surface water rights, well use has <br />