Status Report: Armel Unit, Upper Republican Division, Missouri River Basin Project

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STATUS REPORT ARMEL UNIT, UPPER REPUBLICAN DIVISION, MISSOURI RIVER BASIN PROJECT The existing Bonny Dam and Reservoir.cn the South Republi- can River in eastern Colorado is a major feature of the St. Francis Unit, which was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944 as a multiple- purpose unit of the Missouri River Basin Project. The dam was constructed in advance of finalization of irrigation plans with all related irrigation development to follow later. The project was completed in 1951 and has been providing flood control and inci- dental benefits to fish and wildlife and recreation. Bonny Reservoir was constructed with an initial controlled storage capacity of 170,000 acre-feet consisting of the following allocations: flood control, 128,800 acre -feet; irrigation, 39,900 acre -feet; conservation storage, 1,400 acre -feet. After a 50 -year period of operation, due to sedimentation in the reservoir, the irrigation and conservation capacities will be reduced to 32,500 and 800 acre -feet respectively. Subsequent to the completion of Bonny Dam and Reservoir the Bureau of Reclamation prepared a plan to provide water to approximately 6,000 acres in the Armel unit, a highly productive tableland area north and east of Bonny Dam. New lands were to have been served by the Armel Canal originating at the outlet works of Bonny Dam and extending some eight miles on the north side of the river valley to the Armel Pumping Plant. The irri- gation water was to have been lifted 165 feet by pumps to a 13 -mile long canal leading to the lands in the Armel unit. Attainment of this initial plan for irrigation development in the Armel unit as authorized in Senate Document No. 191 has been delayed because the landowners considered the costs excessive. The rapid growth of pump irrigation in eastern Colorado in recent years has demonstrated to the landowners on the Armel unit the many advantages of irrigation. Where the underground water supply is adequate, pump irrigation has converted an uncer- tain economy based upon the production of dry -land wheat to one based upon the production of sugar beets, corn, sorghums and alfalfa. The Armel area does not have an adequate underground water supply to support pump irrigation. The landowners of the Armel unit in Colorado formed the Armel Irrigation Project Steering Committee in January, 1967, and elected Mr. Jim D. Rogers, Wray, Colorado, as president. The ob- jectives of the steering committee are to obtain authorization for