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Later in the season when the river drops the river diversion dike is insufficient to divert <br />the full decree and shareholders are shorted from what would be their full allotment of <br />water. Hence, repair of this situation is a hiah prioritv for the Company. Again, at high <br />flow rates in the Spring, the existing slide gate cannot hydraulically accept the <br />Company's full decree. <br />Generally the condition of the existing slide gate and the Parshall flume is good and <br />acceptable for normal operations. The notable problems with the overall river diversion <br />structures are: <br />1) Operator safety at high flow rates when stop logs must be removed or set. The <br />stop fogs are heavy and water logged and must be manhandled carefully. There <br />is no guard rail that would prevent a person from falling into the diversion and <br />being swept into the Arkansas River. <br />2) The dike at lower river flows is insufficient to divert the Company's decreed <br />diversion flows. A full diversion of decreed flows cannot be realized during the <br />latter part of the irrigation season. <br />3) The structure and slide gate just upstream of the Parshall flume cannot <br />hydraulically accept the full decree. <br />4) Access to the diversion is via a walking trail about'/4 mile away from a vehicle <br />parking location. One must cross a barbed wire fence, cross the railroad tracks, <br />and hike to the gate and flume. If one wishes to check the dike, further hiking is <br />necessary and there is no trail to follow. <br />Seepas�e <br />As with most earthen channels, Riverside Ditch experiences ditch channel seepage <br />losses that are significant. A USBR funded study and measurement of seepage losses <br />was conducted by Dr. Tim Gates with Colorado State University in August 2009. Results <br />of these measurements and evaluation of the benefit of incorporating PAM will be <br />reported in the nearfuture. There are places along the ditch where seepage can be <br />reasonably assumed to be quite high as indicated by: 1) lush vegetative growth that is in <br />dramatic contrast to other indigenous vegetation found above the ditch and 2) observed <br />reduction in flows. <br />Headaates and Downstream Flumes <br />Over time, the Company has never standardized on headgates or flow measurement <br />flumes. Observed headgate conditions cover a wide spectrum from wooden panel slide <br />gates to lockable wheel gates. Some headgates are quite old and in sometimes poor <br />operating condition. One headgate was found to be broken and no longer operable with <br />the wheel so opening and closing the gate involves physically jerking the gate up to <br />open or pushing it down for closure. Operator safety is an issue with broken headgates. <br />Some headgates have downstream Parshall flumes varying in size from 6 inches to 18 <br />inches. Flumes appear to be level in both the horizontal and side plane but some flumes <br />Aqua Engineering, Inc. Riverside Ditch & Allen Extension Co., Feasibility Study <br />October 2009 - 4 - <br />