C150058A Feasibility Study - Laserfiche WebLink

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WETPACK FEASIBILITY STUDY CHAPTER I - STUDY OBJECTIVE AND STUDY PLAN The Dolores Project (Project) is a multiple purpose water resource project constructed by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and operated by the Dolores Water Conservancy DISTRICT (DISTRICT). The primary facility of the Project is McPhee Reservoir which stores flows of the Dolores River for use by Project water users; there are no other Project storage facilities. Project construction has been completed and the water supply from McPhee Reservoir has been fully allocated through contractual arrangements with existing water users. The DISTRICT, in an initiative called the Water for Everyone Tomorrow PACKage ( "WETPACK "), will implement the DISTRICT's philosophy of better management of water for all of the Dolores Project's uses, both traditional and non - traditional. WETPACK represents a DISTRICT effort to develop additional water for the fishery below McPhee Dam as well as for irrigation of additional lands in the Dolores Project area. The purpose of WETPACK is to better manage existing water supplies and facilities, and to construct new facilities to provide additional water for Project purposes. This report is the result of a feasibility study loan of $75,000 from the Colorado Water Conservation Board. The purpose of the study is to identify all additional sources of water, present and future water demands, and opportunities for satisfying the water needs of the DISTRICT's service area and the economic and technical feasibility of providing such additional water. The primary water demands included in the study are: (1) up to an additional 3,300 acre -feet annually for the wildlife habitat (fishery) release below McPhee Dam; and (2) water supplies to develop additional irrigated lands adjacent to the Full Service area (along the Dove Creek Canal) of the Project and in other locations adjacent to lands served by the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company (MVIC). The study identifies the facilities needed to deliver water to the new uses. The secondary objective is to identify facilities to deliver existing municipal and industrial (M &I) Project water for: (1) augmentation of water uses upstream of McPhee Reservoir; (2) service to clusters of small tracts for lawn and garden watering delivered through a pipe distribution system; and (3) the San Juan County Water Conservancy District of Utah ("SJCWCD") if it chooses to purchase Project M &I water. This feasibility study describes the general components of WETPACK which are: (1) Identify and quantify the future water demands that could be provided through WETPACK, (2) identify sources of water to meet the demands, (3) formulate and evaluate alternatives to meet the demands,