Gunnison Basin Water: No Panacea for the Front Range

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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 Ouray, 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 1linnel 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."'Z 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 Ar" In 1990 a decree was issued in Water Division 4 to clarify the rights to the "second fill" of Taylor Park reservoir. This decree ratified practices in place under an exchange agreement 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