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and decrease in wetter, cooler years. In dry years, net evaporation loss might reach 39.4 <br />inches or 78.8 acre -feet from the three reservoirs. <br />The total amount of water needed by Wadley Farms No. 3 in an average year for irrigation <br />and reservoir evaporation is 95.0 acre -feet. In a dry year, if no water use restrictions were <br />put in place, water demand could be as much as 149.5 acre -feet. It can also be assumed that <br />losses in the feeder ditches to the Wadley Reservoirs and seepage from the reservoirs results <br />in a 10% shrink on the Wadley Farms No. 3 headgate delivery amounts. <br />In a drought year with limited water supplies, the HOA could restrict water use and reduce <br />water demand to just reservoir evaporation. The HOA would take the action of prohibiting <br />all irrigation use in order to preserve sufficient reservoir levels to maintain water pressure to <br />water system hydrants in the event of a fire in the subdivision. Water pressure is reduced to <br />the point of jeopardizing water pressure for water system fire hydrants when total reservoir <br />storage drops below about 30 acre -feet. <br />By comparing the yield of current water supplies to the Wadley Farms No. 3 water demand, <br />it can be seen that the current water supply is adequate in average and wet years, but can <br />cause the reservoirs to be drawn down to minimum levels needed for fisheries, fire - fighting <br />supplies and aesthetics even in average years. A bare minimum reservoir pool, quite <br />possibly inadequate for maintaining fire - fighting protection, can be maintained in dry years <br />where carryover storage has been minimal if all irrigation use in Wadley Farms No. 3 is <br />prohibited. The shortage between available annual water deliveries in a dry year and the <br />maximum water demand in a hot, dry year is 88.8 acre -feet of shortage. The HOA currently <br />faces the risk of having insufficient water supplies in sixty percent of years (six out of every <br />ten years) and has a 10% chance of being in jeopardy of having insufficient fire- fighting <br />reserves and highly - restricted irrigation water each year or in one year in ten on average. <br />The HOA has reviewed alternatives for increasing the amount and reliability of its water <br />supplies and has already implemented some of these alternatives, such as increasing the <br />capacity of its reservoirs, rebuilding the headgate from the Signal Ditch to access low flows, <br />installing meters at each individual lot, and implemented a system for restricting homeowner <br />water use during shortages. Other alternatives were explored include the no action <br />alternative, annexation to the City of Thornton, an effluent exchange with the City of <br />Westminster, obtaining other water for delivery from Big Dry Creek, and acquisition of <br />additional FHL shares. <br />If no action is taken, the water supply for Wadley Farms No. 3 will decrease in the future <br />due to losing the use of previously leased water that will be sold to other water users. <br />Without use of the leased water, the average decrease in water yield for the HOA from 2003 <br />to 2012 would have been 10.3 %. <br />The HOA approached the City of Thornton regarding the possibility of purchasing raw <br />water for the Wadley Reservoirs, but was advised that the city would require annexation of <br />the Wadley Farms No. 3 subdivision to Thornton as a condition of an agreement. The <br />agreement might have given Thornton use of the three HOA FHL shares for its municipal <br />use and converted Wadley Farms No. 3 to treated water irrigation only. Requirements for <br />Wadley Farms No. 3 Water Supply CWCB Loan Feasibility Study Page 34 <br />