The Arkansas Valley Depends uopn More Water: Fryingpan Arkansas Project

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The Fryingpan - Arkansas Project is a self - contained reclamation proj- ect for the collection and transmountain diversion of 69,100 acre feet of water from the Fryingpan and other tributaries of the Roaring Fork River in Western Colorado to the Arkansas River in East- W.M11111111110M ern Colorado, It is a true conservation project designed to fully utilize the diverted water, to capture intermittent flood flows and store some winter flows that are not of much value to agriculture. Better utilization, regulation and additional storage will be accomplished through construction of project features. Waters to be diverted to the Arkansas Valley originate from melting snows on the high mountains bordering the Roaring Fork and Fryingpan Rivers. Numerous tributary streams above 10,000 feet would be tapped and the water collected in a system of about 70 miles of canals and tunnels. Water so collected would then be brought to the eastern slope by means of a tunnel six miles in length piercing the Continental Divide. The plan calls for the construction of two new reservoirs -one for storage at an altitude of 7,300 feet on western slope just above the town of Basalt on the Fryingpan River, with a storage capacity of about 100,000 acre -feet, will provide water for replacement and other uses on the western slope. The enlargement of the existing Turquoise and Twin Lakes Reservoirs and the Con- struction of Pueblo Reservoir will provide a total eastern slope storage capacity of 777,000 acre -feet. A power system consisting of about 52 miles of canals located at elevations below 9,500 feet -7 power plants having a total installed capacity of 123,900 Kilowatts. The total power generation is over 500 million KW hours. _- • Mr. Royce J. Tipton of Denver, a consulting engineer of national and international reputation, made this statement before the Douse of • Committee. "My conclusion is, after having been intimately identified with the evolution of the project as a member of the Engineering Advisory Com- � << mittee of the Policy and Review Committee, that the project is well conceived from an engineering standpoint, and that it will provide the maximum possible benefits from the water supplies made available by it. From the standpoint of need for the project, and the engineering feasibility of it, i strongly urge its authorization." � The Bureau of Reclamation declares the Project to be entirely feasible with a benefit -to -cost ratio of 1.52 -- $1.52 return for every $1.00 invested. After exhaustive studies of the Project, it was approved as feasible by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the state agency charged with protecting and preserving Colorado wa- ter resources. The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancv District encompassing the project area was formed in 1958 to act as the legal entity in sponsoring the Fryingpan Project and to nego- tiate contracts for repayment of the project costs.