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17 <br />efficiently during "peak-use" periods because of the danger of rapidly <br />rising water levels and flooding in the downstream sections of the canyon. <br />With Crystal Dam in the system this danger is eliminated, but the water <br />level of Crystal Reservoir will necessarily have to be fluctuated <br />drastically in relatively short time-periods to accommodate the peaking <br />discharges of Morrow Point. Morrow Point Reservoir will remain at a <br />relatively constant water level at all times due to replenishment from <br />Blue Mesa to permit maximum head for power generation. <br />Taylor Park,Reservoir, the storage reservoir for the Uncompaghre <br />Project in the upper Gunnison drainage, will be discussed in the next <br />section because of its close association with the Gunnison Tunnel. <br />DIVERSIONS--Gunnison Tunnel <br />Man has diverted water for irrigation purposes on practically every <br />stream in the Gunnison River Basin. Most of this is return irrigation <br />water that eventually finds its way back to the main Gunnison River. <br />This is especially true for the higher-elevation sections above the Cure- <br />canti Unit where evaporation losses may not be as great as in lower- <br />elevation returns. A short distance below Crystal Dam, however, Man has <br />constructed the Gunnison Tunnel, a structure which, at various times <br />during some years past, actually diverted the entire flow of the Gunnison <br />River into the arid Uncompaghre Valley, leaving only a series of stagnant <br />pools in approximately 30 mi of the Gunnison River above the North Fork <br />junction. It is likely that return flow was considerably reduced by <br />evaporation before the diverted water could re-enter the main Gunnison <br />flow via the Uncompaghre River below Delta, Colorado.