Laserfiche WebLink
Introduction and Proiect Need <br />The Riverside Ditch and Allen Extension Company (hereafter referred to as the <br />Company or RD8�AEC), located near Buena Vista, Colorado and with irrigation service <br />area within Chaffee County, operates a canal which has provided benefit for its <br />shareholders more than 125 years. <br />Riverside Ditch & Allen Extension Company diverts waterfrom the Arkansas River in <br />Colorado Division of Water Resources' Water District 11, Division 2. The river diversion <br />and headworks is located on the west bank of the river in the southeast quarter of <br />Section 2, Township 13 south, Range 79 West, S PM. Generally, the service area of the <br />canal is irrigated lands north of the Town of Buena Vista. The canal terminates north of <br />Buena Vista approximately 8.2 miles downstream of the river diversion. <br />See the map (Figure 1) of the entire canal with principle structures delineated in the <br />legend. <br />Over the course of the past 18 months, the Company has been considering a number of <br />phased improvements to the canal which can be characterized as: <br />� Repairs and modifications to the river diversion. <br />� Lining of portions of the canal. <br />� Consideration of canal monitoring (and potentially future gate actuation) using <br />supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) equipment. <br />■ Phreatophyte removal and pruning. <br />� Installation, removal, or repair of selected headgates and including a <br />standardized downstream flume. <br />`�� Repairs to the canal to ensure capacity and adequate operational freeboard. <br />The Riverside Ditch has not received much real repair and little improvement in recent <br />decades. The Company did construct finro siphons, the cost of which was funded by <br />shareholder assessments using a CWCB Ioan. These latest proposed improvements <br />are, in effect, the first steps of phased canal modernization and repairs to aging <br />infrastructure. <br />Of particular concem at the present is the river diversion. The Company has been <br />unable to take their full decreed flow because of the flow back to the river through the <br />dike (aka "wing wall") that directs water toward the river diversion headgate. See <br />"� Appendix E for a photograph of this circumstance. Further, at times of high river flow <br />there are operational concerns at the Company's main gate having to do with both <br />capacity and operator safety. <br />These considered improvements, as proposed herein, would have the overall effect and <br />benefit to the RD&AEC shareholders through: <br />� Improving overall canal operations and operational efficiency. <br />£ Increasing consistency of shareholder headgate deliveries. <br />'� Implementation of standardized, company-wide, wheeled headgates with <br />standardized flumes downstream. <br />��� Decreasing operational liabilities. <br />Aqua Engineering, Inc. Riverside Ditch & Allen Extension Co., Feasibility Study <br />October 2009 - 1 - <br />