Yampa River Basin Water Resources Planning Model Final Report

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Operating right 13 releases water from account 5 to the Stillwater Ditch irrigating in Division 5 (584686). The administration number for this operating right is junior to both the direct flow right at the direct diversion and the storage right at Stillwater Reservoir. The amount of water released to the direct diversion is restricted by the amount currently available in the account. 4.5.2 Yamcolo Reservoir Yamcolo Reservoir (WDID 584240) is owned and operated by the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District (UYWCD) and is used to provide supplemental irrigation water supplies to the critically water short reaches of the upper Yampa River (Bear River). According to an elevation- area - capacity table obtained from the UYWCD, the total capacity of the reservoir at the spillway is approximately 9,096 acre -feet, and the capacity at the invert of the outlet works (dead storage) is approximately 1,068 acre -feet, resulting in an active capacity of approximately 8,028 acre -feet. Yamcolo is operated with 12 accounts and 6 water rights as shown in Tables 4.5.2a -c. TABLE 4.5.2A Yamcolo Reservoir Accounts Reservoir Account Owner Capacity acre -feet Yamcolo 1 BIGMESA 500 Yamcolo 2 BIRD 300 Yamcolo 3 COALCR 300 Yamcolo 4 LINDSBY 550 Yamcolo 5 YAMCOIRRCO 241 Yamcolo 6 YAMCOIRRYA 272 Yamcolo 7 STAGECONCO 343 Yamcolo 8 STAGECONYA 3,092 Yamcolo 9 YAMCONOOWN 837 Yamcolo 10 STAGENOOWN 565 Yamcolo 11 YAMCOLOM &I 1,010 Yamcolo 12 CONSVPOOL 1,086 The active storage in Yamcolo Reservoir is allocated by assigning 1,010 acre -feet for municipal uses, j 3,000 acre -feet to the Yamcolo Irrigators Association for irrigation in the upper reaches of the Bear River, and 4,000 acre -feet to the Colorado -Ute Electric Association (Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association [Tri- State's] predecessor) for industrial uses. The dead storage of approximately 1,086 acre -feet is reserved as a conservation pool. The Yamcolo Irrigators' Association currently consists of approximately 18 individuals who irrigate land under several of the major ditch structures in the upper Bear River. Using reservoir account and land ownership data provided by the water commissioner, the reservoir accounts were grouped according to the structures that are used to serve the irrigated land owned by those individuals. Because of the relatively small size of some of these sub - accounts, the smaller ownerships were Y aggregated into a single account (Yamconoown). Operating Criteria File 4 -20