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<br /> - 3 - <br />Hydrology and Water Rights <br /> <br />North Poudre Reservoir No. 4 is an off stream reservoir with a drainage basin of <br />approximately 320 acres. Decreed storage water is released through North <br />Poudre Reservoir No. 3 into Smith Reservoir and then through a short pipeline <br />and open ditch into North Poudre Reservoir No. 4. Both North Poudre Reservoir <br />No. 3 and Smith Reservoir are outside of the North Poudre Reservoir No. 4 <br />Drainage Basin. <br /> <br />The initial decree for North Poudre Reservoir No. 4 has an appropriation date of <br />November 1, 1889 and an adjudication date of December 9, 1904. This decree <br />allowed for the storage of 1074 acre feet of water to gage height 15 feet with a <br />priority number of 25. The source of the water is the North Fork of the Cache la <br />Poudre, Park Creek, and the West Branch of Dry Creek, all tributaries of the <br />Cache la Poudre River. Delivery is made to North Poudre Reservoir No. 3 <br />through a feeder canal off of the North Poudre Main Ditch. <br /> <br />An enlargement of the reservoir in the 1920’s to gage height 22 feet allowed <br />storage of an additional 707 acre foot of water. The source of this water is the <br />Cache la Poudre River with water delivered to the North Poudre Main Ditch <br />through the Munroe Ditch. This decree has an appropriation date of May 15, <br />1903, an adjudication date of April 22, 1922, and a priority number of 63. <br /> <br />In 1953 NPIC was granted a refill decree for 918 acre feet of water with an <br />appropriation date of December 12, 1921, an adjudication date of September 9, <br />1953, and a Reservoir Refill Priority No.136K. A second conditional refill for 863 <br />acre feet was granted at the same time but was abandoned January 10, 1999. <br /> <br />Combining all water rights results in a total decreed storage of 1781 acre feet of <br />water plus a refill decree of 918 acre feet of water. Copies of the water rights are <br />found in Appendix B. <br /> <br />Water stored in North Poudre Reservoir No. 4 is used to irrigate approximately <br />150 acres of land downstream with the remainder used in exchanges to other <br />irrigation companies and to mitigate water losses on other portions of the NPIC <br />system. <br /> <br />Project Description <br /> <br />Over the past 17 years NPIC has conducted several preliminary feasibility <br />studies for the rehabilitation of Reservoir No 4. All of the studies have assumed <br />that in addition to the replacement of the outlet works major flood easements <br />would be needed with all of the adjacent landowners and large quantities of silt <br />would need to be removed to gain full decreed capacity. To accurately <br />determine the amount of material needed to be removed from the reservoir and