Water News: Southeastern Colorado Water District Volume 1 Issue 10

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FRY -ARK PROJECT WATER 2000 Early Project Water Allocation In the 2000 early Project Water allocation, the District allocated 4,362 acre -feet of Project Water to agricultural users. Project Water allocated in the early allocation must be used by November 1, 2000. The District through the Water Activity Enterprise also sold 20,000 acre -feet of Enterprise Project Water to agricultural users. Enterprise Project Water allocated in the early allocation had to be used by June 1, 2000. 2000 Regular Project Water Allocation In the 2000 regular Project Water allocation, the District allocated 14,196 acre -feet of Project Water to municipal and domestic users, and 93,351 acre - feet to agricultural users. Agricultural users may choose to pay for only that portion of their Project Water allocation they expect to use before July 15, 2000. Any remaining amount of their allocation will be reserved until July 15. They must notify the District by July 15, of their ALLOCATION intent to use, and must pay for it by July 15, any remaining portion of their allocation they wish to use. If the District is not notified of the intent of the agricultural user to use the remaining portion of their allocation, or payment is not received, then the remaining allocation shall be available for reallocation by the District. Agricultural users have until November 1, 2000 to use at least 80 percent of their total allocation. At that time any portion of their allocation remaining in storage that exceeds 20 percent of their total allocation will revert to the District, and will be subject to reallocation by the District. The remaining portion of their allocation, if any, must be used by May 1, 2001. Second 2000 Project Water Allocation reviewed by the District staff, submitted to the Allocation Committee for evaluation and action by the Board of Directors of the District at the regular meeting of the Board July 20, 2000. Applicants will then be notified of the decision of the Board of Directors concerning their request. If you have any questions concerning the second allocation, or if you need further information, don't hesitate to contact the District Office. Written by: Tom Simpson, SECWCD, Water Resources Manager Project Water Allocations Municipal 14,196 acre -feet Agricultural 97,713 acre -feet Based on current estimates it Enterprise Project Water Sales appears that additional Project Agricultural 21,718 acre -feet Water will be available in 2000. Enterprise Return Flow Sales Entities interested in receiving a second allocation of Project Augmentation Plans 15,855 acre -feet Water must submit a written Current total allocations and sales of Project request to the District office by Water and Project Water Return Flows are July 17, 2000. reflected in the above table. The requests will be Spring Runoff 2000 - Where was the peak? Peak runoff in the high country occurred about two weeks earlier than usual this year. At Leadville, Colorado, the Arkansas River peaked at 725 ft 3/s on May 30; at Parkdale, just upstream from the Royal Gorge, the Arkansas River peaked at 3,280 ft 3/s on May 30 and June 1. Runoff in the upper Arkansas River basin lasted almost three weeks - from May 22 through June 1. Overall, the peak in the upper Arkansas River basin was fairly typical of the peaks that have occurred during the past ten years; however, the duration of the runoff was considerably shorter. Runoff in the Purgatoire River and Fountain Creek basins was much worse than in the upper Arkansas River basin. Both the streamflow peak and duration of runoff in these basins were much lower than what has typically occurred during the past ten years. This resulted from a below normal snowpack and from increased evaporation due to the high winds that occurred in April and May. Written by: Pat Edelmann, USGS