9450

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9450
• Author: Land and Water Fund of the Rockies.
• Title: Gunnison Basin Water
• USFW Year: 2003.
• USFW - Doc Type: No Panacea for the Front Range.
• Copyright Material: NO

The Gunnison: A Basin In Balance
Uncompahgre Project
• Facilities: Gunnison Diversion Dam and Gunnison Tunnel
• Year: Completed 1909
• Location: 35 miles west of Gunnison, just below Crystal Dam
• Water Use: Average diversion 365,000 AF
• Facilities: Taylor Park Reservoir
•, Year: Completed 1937
• Location: 25 miles northeast of Almont, on the Taylor River
• Water Use: Average releases 154,000 AF
The UVWUA operates these facilities to divert water into the Gunnison Tunnel
for delivery to farmers and ranchers in Curay, Delta, and Montrose counties, where it
is used as a supplemental supply for irrigation of about 76,000 acres of land." The
UVWUA and others hold conditional water rights that, if developed, will increase the
flow of water through the Tunnel. They are described in Chapter 2.
The second component of the Uncompahgre Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,
was constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation on the Taylor River west of
Cottonwood Pass to provide a supplemental supply of water for the Gunnison Tunnel
and the UVWUA. It is now operated not only for irrigation but also for flatwater
recreation and for the release of water to "enhance the fishery and recreational uses
of the Taylor and Gunnison Rivers above Blue Mesa Reservoir.""
The initial storage water right for Taylor Park, for the reservoir's "first fill," was
decreed in 1941 for 111,260 AF with a priority date of December 18, 1933, for irriga-
tion and other purposes. In 1986, the 1904 decree was modified to eliminate non-irri-
gation uses, except for a minimal hydroelectric right. The average annual volume of
water discharged from Taylor Park for the period from.
1952 to 1988 was approximately 154,000 AF. 13 In 1990 a
decree was issued in Water Division 4 to clarify the rights 111 r
to the "second fill" of Taylor Park reservoir. This decree Y
ratified practices in place under an exchange agreement? cr=, _;
with the Aspinall Unit and is described after this report's ;
explanation of the Aspinall Unit. ,
2. Aspinall Unit
The Aspinall Unit, constructed in the 1960s and
1970s, includes three dams and their like-named reser-
voirs: Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal. Together,
they back up the Gunnison for forty river miles, from ten
miles below the City of Gunnison all the way to the
Gunnison Tunnel. These facilities provide water for,
among other things, hydroelectric power, flat-water
Gunnison Basin Water • 3
Morrow Point Dam
Source: Bureau of Reclamation