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CWCB Loan Narrative Overview 5 <br />farming on the HCIC System. The new board immediately adopted resolutions for special assessments and set about developing plans for repairing and rebuilding of the Cucharas Dam. HCIC immediately began making capital improvements, for the first time in five decades, including laying new roads, installing new head, waste and lateral gates, repairing the diversion point and putting in new metering systems. All the improvements were paid for with increased assessments from HCIC shareholders. HCIC also immediately contracted with Applegate Group, LLC (Applegate) for plans to mitigate dam safety issues and GEI Consultants, Inc. (GEI) for plans to rehabilitate of the Cucharas Reservoir. PROJECT BACKGROUND & NEED STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION The Cucharas No. 5 Dam is located in northeastern Huerfano County on the Cucharas River, approximately 10 miles northeast of the City of Walsenburg. The dam is a 145-foot high rock fill dam that has undergone several enlargements since the original construction in 1914. The reservoir has a capacity of approximately 42,100 acre-feet to the spillway crest elevation of 5766.0 feet MSL, gauge height 120.5 ft. based on an October 2002 survey completed by Clyde B. Young & Company. The reservoir storage basin has accumulated a large quantity of silt with the current level against the upstream face of the dam at gauge height 80. There are two functioning 36-inch diameter outlet slide gates on the face of the outlet works having their inverts approximately eight feet below the existing silt level. A silt catchment fence and depressed rock basin around the outlet structure allows water to flow to the valves with minimal silt flow through the valves. The spillway is a 300-foot long concrete ogee crest with an estimated capacity of 42,000 cfs with no residual freeboard. The spillway discharge channel is a rock cut rectangular channel which is approximately 100 feet wide with a depth of 19 feet and drops vertically from the canyon rim to floor, approximately 80 feet below. PROJECT LANDS The Cucharas Reservoir is located in Sections 25, 26, 35, 36, Township 26 South, Range 65 West: Sections 30 and 31, Township 26 South, Range 64 West: Sections 6 and 7 Township 27 South, Range 64 West; Sections 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15, Township 27 South, Range 64 West, 6th P.M., in northeast Huerfano County. HCIC owns a portion of the land around the Cucharas Reservoir. Two Rivers is in negotiations to purchase additional land in and around the Cucharas Dam.