MVIC Will Receive Water from Dolores River Call: Cortez Journal

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Water Continued from Page lA the river. "The lawyers were concerned with the (Ute) Indian trust asset, but determined that there was no problem," he said. "But they are not in agreement of DWCD's version of the con - tract." Harrell's comment prompted Arveschoug to ask, "Sq if MVIC says `start sending water to Narraguinnep right now,' then that's okay?" "Yes, that's correct,° Harrell said. Presently, 5,085.7 acre feet of water is accounted for in McPhee by DWCD in conjune- tion with Narraguinnep stor- age. Late Thursday evening, the DWCD board decided to charge the Dove Creek canal April 28, and : plans for users to begin pumping water from the canal for irrigation should occur no sooner than May 5. `Basically we're charging our canal April 28, but asking our users to leave their'pumps off until the date the board decides," DWCD General Man- ager Steve Arveschoug said. The special (water supply) meeting is scheduled for May 2 at 1 p.m., in the DWCD office, located at 60 S. Cactus St. in Cortez. Another reason for schedul- ing the special meeting is that any decision will benefit from a May 1 Bureau of Reclamation official forecast, which includes possible inflow and outflow predictions. "The water supply issue will be the only agenda item for this meeting," .DWCD President Don Schwindt said. Historically, during dry years, DWCD releases water ,into canals toward the end of April, and during wet- years the district makes water available in canals the first week of May, according to DWCD Operations and Maintenance Chief Chuck Lurvey. "Starting (releasing water to canals) in late April has never been a . problem concerning freezes," he said. "But it takes approximately seven days to fill the canal system." Earlier Thursday evening, DWCD' directors seemed divid- ed during discussion °whether to announce a date to begin diverting McPhee Reservoir water to the canal at all. Arveschoug explained that most of the 24,000 acre feet of water presently in McPhee's conservation pool is not avail able for irrigation. "Most of this water is being stored for WC for Narraguin- nep Reservoir, municipal and industrial use and covering any evaporative losses,"- he said. Schwindt said he would like . to see water in the canal soon. "Our total (water) allocation isn't going to be known until after the April -to- June - runoff period, but the key issue is we're not going to lose water by putting it in the canal now (this month)," Schwindt said. Director Jim Fisher agreed. "I see no real disadvantage to starting early," he said. Director Abdel Berrada was more conservative in his analy- sis. "We could use some feeling from some of the irrigators on this," he said. "If we receive more rain, then we can maybe wait until May 15." 'DWCD Director Joe Mahaffey agreed with Berrada's reserva- tions "I say no decision right now, he said. "We have until our May 8 regular meeting to consider this." Ultimately, the board decided to continue discussion on water supply and diversion to irrigators at the,.May 2 meeting. For, additional information concerning the May 2 water meeting or other district 'proj- ects, contact Arveschoug at 565 -7562.