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Water Supply Reserve Account- Grant Application Form
<br />Form Revised May 2007
<br />1) A narrative description of the studv area/service area to include the county, the location of
<br />towns or cities topography, and locations of ma,jor surface and ground water features.
<br />The study area includes all of Chaffee County and parts of Lake and Saguache Counties. Figure 2 depicts
<br />the study area along with the location of the town of Buena Vista, the unincorporated Nathrop, the City of
<br />Salida, and the town of Poncha Springs.
<br />The topography of the study area is defined by on the west by the Sawatch Range of the Continental
<br />Divide, and on the east by the Mosquito Range. Chaffee County sports 12 of the highest peaks in the
<br />nation, known as 14-ers because they are more than 14,000 feet above mean sea level, and an estimated
<br />basin-fill aquifer depth of -5,000 feet bgs, creating a unique study area with immense orographical
<br />heterogeneity. The Arkansas River flows southerly through the Chaffee County study area. The mountains
<br />are drained by tributaries such as Clear, Cottonwood, Chalk, and Poncha Creeks, and the South Arkansas
<br />River.
<br />Three interstate highways transect Chaffee County, as shown on Figure 2. U.S. Highway 24 and U.S.
<br />Highway 50 are major east-west arterials. U.S. Highway 285 is a major north-south arterial that connects
<br />the County to Denver.
<br />Figure 1 depicts the locations of five high mountain reservoirs in the study area: North Fork, Cottonwood,
<br />Lake 0'Haver, Boss, and Rainbow. The study area contains an exceptional amount of basin-wide special
<br />value waters, including 50% of natural lake levels, 50% of instream flow waters, and 100% of Colorado
<br />outstanding waters. Natural lake level lakes include Willis, Alan, Clohesy, Silver King, Beal, Harvard,
<br />Kroenke, Hartenstein, Lost, Cottonwood, Alpine, Pomeroy, Upper Pomeroy, North Fork Reservoir, Boss,
<br />Waterdog, and Upper Waterdog. See Table 14 for other environmental and recreational attributes in the
<br />study area. Figure 3 depicts Chaffee County rivers, streams, and creeks. Besides major tributaries,
<br />representative streams include Pine, Frenchman's, Three Elk, Squaw, North Fork of South Arkansas,
<br />Middle Fork of South Arkansas, Fooses, Greens, Poncha, and Bear.
<br />Ground water features include basin-fill deposits referred to as the Dry Union Formation at a depth of
<br />-5,000 feet bgs; glacial deposits of outwash and till at a depth of -100 feet; and alluvial deposits ranging
<br />from -10 to -165 feet bgs. A substantial portion of the study area is underlain by Quaternary-Tertiary age
<br />alluvial, glacial, and basin-fill deposits, as depicted on Figure 2.
<br />2) An area map showing each of the items above as well as the locations of existing; facilities,
<br />proposed project facilities and boundaries of lands benefited bv the water activitv.
<br />Figure 1 depicts the District's 2M acre service area, along with the approximate location of its 15 new dcps
<br />funded in part by grants of -$285,000 each from BOR and WSRA. Figure 2 depicts the study area in
<br />Chaffee and parts of Lake and Saguache Counties, along with the location of major population centers, and
<br />U.S. Highways. Figure 3 depicts Chaffee County rivers, streams, and creeks.
<br />3) Socio-economic characteristics of the area such as population, employment and land use.
<br />Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District (UAWCD) Page 29 of 42
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