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Feasibility Study <br />East Mesa Water Company <br />Ditch Li g Project <br />F�e"42 <br />Introduction (Need for the Project) <br />This project lies in the Crystal River Valley in the western portion of Pitkin County, Colorado. The East <br />Mesa Water Company operates the East Mesa Water Company system for the benefit of the <br />shareholders by providing irrigation water from water rights out of the Crystal River. <br />About, one mile down ditch from the diversion the water flows through a 650 foot long rock tunnel that <br />is collapsing. The owners of the ditch want to avoid the chance of losing the water delivery system due <br />to complete failure of the tunnel. Also, the earthen ditch loses as much as 35% of the water in the <br />ditch due to seepage through the course and rocky soil in the 9 mile length of the ditch. The East Mesa <br />Water Company wants to install a lining or pipeline to make a permanent fix of this section. Proposed <br />work will take place in the fall and winter of 2013 while the ditch is not in use. <br />The proposal is to pipe 1450 ft. around the collapsing tunnel. The pipeline will be rerouted to avoid <br />the tunnel and will prevent water loss due to ditch seepage. <br />The project consists of a concrete water inlet structure, and 1450 feet of HDPE plastic pipe. <br />Without controlling or avoiding the collapsing of the tunnel the ditch will become inoperable. <br />Seepage and water loss will continue through this section until the ditch is piped. <br />Project Sponsor <br />The East Mesa Water Company is an incorporated ditch company in the State of Colorado. The <br />Company has an elected board of directors that manage the day -to -day business and operation of the <br />ditch. The Ditch has a hired "ditch walker" to manage flows of water to the users of the ditch and to do <br />some maintenance work. The East Mesa Water Company articles of incorporation and by -laws are <br />included in Appendix A. <br />Project Service Area and Facilities <br />This project and service area lies in the Crystal River Valley in the western portion of Pitkin County and <br />serves an area in the southeastern portion of Garfield County, Colorado. The Ditch Company has <br />approximately 8.5 miles of distribution ditch starting at the Diversion 9 miles south of the <br />intersection of Highway 82 and 133 at Carbondale, Colorado. The service area is 740 acres in size <br />and is known locally as East Mesa of the Crystal River and lies 1 to 5 miles south of Carbondale, <br />Colorado. <br />The diversion is specifically located at: 39 degrees 17'37.05" N 107 degrees 12' 59.81" W. <br />The elevation at the diversion is 6530 feet. <br />The ditch company serves 12 users including private landowners and homeowners associations. <br />The users are approximately 100% agricultural. The East Mesa Water Company provides water to <br />irrigate about 740 acres of land. Irrigated acreage within the service area is primarily used for cattle <br />