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Feasibilitc Shide <br />Farmers' High Line Canal and Reservoir Company <br />October 2010 <br />FEASIBILITY STUDY <br />FARMERS' HIGH LINE CANAL AND RESERVOIR COMPANY <br />INTRODUCTION (NEED FOR THE PROJECT) <br />The Farmers' High Line Canal and Reservoir Company ("FHL") is a Colorado Mutual Ditch <br />Company which was founded in approximately 1885. <br />FHL diverts water from Clear Creelc in Golden and delivers that water to municipal, corporate and <br />agricultural shareholders along approximately 33 miles of canal in Jefferson and Ada�ns Counties. <br />At the height of agricultural use several thousand acres were irrigated by the FHL. Currently the <br />Cities of Westminster, Thornton, Northglenn, and Arvada own about 85 percent of the shares in the <br />Company and the great majority of the water diverted by FHL is used by the municipalities to <br />provide water to their citizens. <br />Over the course of the last 130 years many things have changed along the Canal, but the one thing <br />that has remained remarkably consistent has been the means of diversion and delivery of water. <br />The last maj or renovation to the river headgates and diversions structures at Clear Creelc took place <br />in approximately 1942. Over the course of the last 68 years, Clear Creelc and the eleinents have <br />taken their toll on both the diversion dam and the steel headgates. The earthen channel which <br />carries the water to the end users requires constant care and attention and the concrete and steel <br />stn�ctures responsible for carrying the water under roadways and railroads are in a constant state of <br />deterioration. Mother Nature has presented even more challenges in the form of Cottonwood trees <br />in the Canal bai7lcs ai7d easement area. Trees which were once thought of as ainenities by <br />neighboring lai7downers have become potential hazards. Having reached the end of their life <br />expectances dozens of large cottonwoods now need to be removed before they fall and talce large <br />sections of ditch ba111c and neighboring hoines with thein. It has now reached the point where any <br />further delay in infrastructure repair or replacement could result in failures of the diversion works <br />and canal in the not too distant fuhire. <br />With an eye toward the fi�ture the Board of Directors of FHL cominissioned Deere & Ault <br />Consultants, Inc. ("D&A") to prepare a Canal evaluation and a master plan with regard to <br />iilfrastructure repair and replacement in 2009. li1 all, 10 items of immediate concern were <br />identified: a cori metal drain pipe needed to be replaced immediately, three siphons needed to <br />be repaired or replaced, the river headgate diversion structure needed to be rehabilitated and the <br />headgates replaced, the diversion dam needed to be rehabilitated and erosion control constn�cted, <br />and finally nuinerous trees needed to be removed. It was also determined that in order to provide <br />FHL Canal staff with the ability to reinotely read flows and operate the river headgates a SCADA <br />Control System should be installed. Action items and cost estiinates are presented in this study and <br />were included in the Constn�ction Fund Loan Application which was previously submitted. <br />-1- <br />