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Background <br />The District was formed in June 1957 under the "Water Conservancy Act" of the State of <br />Colorado. The District delivers 18,000 acre-feet annually to a 6,600 acre service area, located in <br />and around the Town of Silt. The District's primary water right is a 10,384 acre-foot storage <br />right in Rifle Gap Reservoir. Additionally, the District has a 36 cfs water right out of the <br />Colorado River, under which it pumps approximately 4,000 acre-feet annually, and a 100 cfs <br />direct flow right in the Grass Valley Canal, which is stored in Harvey Gap Reservoir with a <br />capacity of 5,805 acre-feet. <br />To-date, the District has completed the maintenance and repair work at Rifle Gap Reservoir and <br />has completed the monitoring and design report for the seepage at Harvey Gap Reservoir, at a <br />total cost of approximately $93,500. Future work at Harvey Gap Reservoir may be required to <br />address any future concerns the State Engineer's Office might have. <br />Discussion <br />Due to the increased cost to replace the Grass Valley Siphon and other cost adjustments to the <br />District's original system rehabilitation cost estimate, the overall cost to complete the system <br />rehabilitation project has increased to $1,670,000. <br />The replacement of the Grass Valley Siphon is the main reason for the proposed loan increase. <br />The original feasibility report estimated $500,000 to design and replace the siphon with <br />approximately 1,200 feet of 42-inch diameter steel pipe. When the original estimate was <br />developed, it assumed that the Bureau of Reclamation would assist in the design of the <br />replacement siphon, because of their involvement in the original design. After several years, it <br />became apparent to the District that any assistance from the Bureau would be limited and <br />untimely. Therefore, given the condition of the existing siphon and its critical importance to the <br />health of the overall system, the District hired the services of Schmueser, Gordon, Meyer <br />Engineers and Surveyors in Apri12008 to design a replacement siphon for construction in the <br />fall/winter of 2008/09. <br />The project has been designed and bids were received in August 2008. The District is currently <br />working with the low bidder, High Country Pipeline, Penrose, Colorado, at a bid of $930,000. <br />The bid was for replacing the siphon with 1,185 feet of 54-inch diameter steel pipe below grade. <br />A comparison of the total cost of the project with that originally estimated is summarized below in <br />Table l. T'he District completed the cost estimate for the original project in June 2003. <br />Table 1 <br />