Pagosa Springs San Juan/Delores River Division 7 Correspondence

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0811512005 15:47 9702599944 DIV 7 WATER RESOURCE PAGE 02 4 STATE OF COLORADO WATER DIVISION 7 DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES Office of.the State Engineer ; ° e Department of Natural Resources "1876 701 Camino Del Rio,Suite 205 Bill Owens . Durango,CO 81301 Governor Phone:(970)247-1845 Russell George FAX: (970)259-0944. Executive Director ttp://water.stat0.co.us! Hui Simpson,P.B. h0p://water.state.co.usl Engineer Kenneth Becgles,P.E. Division Engineer August 15,2005 Department of the Army US Army Engineer District Sacramento Corps of Engineers 1325 J Street Sacramento, CA 95814-2922 Re: Public Notice 200575106 Dear Ms. Hellige: Our Denver office commented previously on this project and we agree that in general there are no water rights impacts by the project that we are aware of. The purpose of this comment is to express our concern about the reenlargement of the channel which could raise the gradient of the stream. This could cause flooding or inundation of water rights structures adjacent to the river.This includes the benchmark gaging station which has been taken out and replaced upstream. The last historic record due to the changed control section has had an impact on our ability to monitor flows in Pagosa Springs. We question whether there is an improvement to the fishery as a result if this work. The previous river work done by David Rosgen was directed to impact this fishery aspect. These channel improvements were removed under this and rock was laid against one bank which would cause more water to shift to the east side. The history of low head hydro dams has a background of creating dangerous backwater eddy's which are very dangerous for users. We see that pools with backwater current flows have been created at the cutoff wall which was cemented into place,we believe. We do not draw other conclusions but believe that the Corps should take these comments into consideration before approving the permit. •