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<br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />GOULD DAM AND RESERVOIR ENLARGEMENT <br /> <br />PLAN DESCRIPTION <br /> <br />Gould (aka Onion Valley) Dam and Reservoir is an existing structure <br />located on Iron Creek in the North Fork of the Gunnison River <br />drainage in western Colorado, about 15 miles south of the Town of <br />Hotchkiss. Figure 1 shows the general reservoir location. The dam <br />is owned by the Fruitland Irrigation Company but any enlargements <br />of Gould Reservoir would be sponsored by the Fruitland Mesa Water <br />Conservancy District. The District contact person is: <br /> <br />Don Meeks (921-5757) <br />82551 Highway 92 <br />Maher, Colorado 81421 <br /> <br />The purpose of enlarging the darn and reservoir is to store <br />additional water for use by irrigators downstream of the reservoir. <br /> <br />The darn and reservoir were included in the Fruitland Mesa Project <br />which is a participating project of the Colorado River Storage <br />Project Act, but has not been constructed. The Bureau of <br />Reclamation has studied the enlargement as part of an overall plan <br />to divert and store additional water for the area. There is <br />considerable information on the Gould enlargement at the <br />Reclamation Grand Junction Projects Office. <br /> <br />The CWCB and the Fruitland Mesa WCD retained PRC (now ECI) <br />Engineers in 1980 to prepare a feasibility study on the enlargement <br />of Gould Reservoir. Where Reclamation had included Gould as one <br />component of a larger project, the PRe report just investigated <br />enlarging Gould Reservoir. The PRC report thoroughly investigated <br />the technical and cost issues associated with enlargement of Gould <br />Reservoir. The report determined that an enlarged Gould Reservoir, <br />from about 8,300 acre-feet to 12,000 acre-feet, in conjunction with <br />cooperative operation of the existing ditch water would increase <br />the late season irrigation water supply considerably. The report, <br />however, concluded that there was not sufficient irrigation <br />repayment ability to repay the project costs even though the <br />benefits exceeded the costs. <br /> <br />This report summarizes the findings and updates the cost estimates <br />to determine if the project is feasible at today's financing terms. <br /> <br />Gould Dam <br /> <br />1 <br />