BOARD00714

• Board Meeting Date: 7/9/1975
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

northeastern edge of the project area. Monument Creek Reservoir,
located in an intermittent stream channel in the Dove Creek area will
store municipal and industrial water for the town of Dove Creek. Dawson
Draw Reservoir will be constructed 11 miles northwest of Cortez spe-
cifically as a wildlife management area and to provide hunting, fishing
and boating opportunities for the enjoyment of the general public.

As the major project conveyance, the Dove Creek Canal will receive water
from McPhee Reservoir and will extend about 40 miles northwest to
Monument Creek Reservoir. Other irrigation facilities will include the
South Canal, a branch of the Dove Creek Canal; the New Dolores Tunnel,
extending from McPhee Reservoir to the existing irrigation system of the
Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company; and the Towaoc Canal, extending
from the new Dolores Tunnel through Montezuma Valley to the Towaoc area.

Farm Irrigation Benefits

The project will provide a supplemental irrigation supply for the
Montezuma Valley area, which has had annual irrigation shortages of about
13 percent in the late summer and fall as a result of inadequate storage
facilities. The irrigation shortages will be almost entirely eliminated,
and crop yields will be substantially increased.

The project will provide full irrigation supplies for the Dove Creek and
Towaoc areas, and livestock feeds will probably be adopted as the princi-
pal sources of income. The major feed crops will be alfalfa, pasture,
barley and corn silage. Irrigation will increase the diversity and
flexibility of production, so that farm incomes will not depend upon
the success or failure of just one major crop or upon widely fluctuating
precipitation. Increased water supplies, the additional use of fer-
tilizers for irrigated crops, and other farm improvements will result
in larger crop yields per acre than under dry-farm conditions.

Sprinkler irrigation systems are planned for all of the full service
lands, while the supplemental service lands in the Montezuma Valley
area will continue to receive water in existing gravity systems. Irri-
gation scheduling will be implemented on all full service land to assure
the application of the proper amount of water at the appropriate time
for a given crop and soil condition. The ideal quantities and timing
of the irrigation applications will be predicted from analyses of
temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, local soil types, soil
moisture, and crop characteristics.

Municipal and Industrial Benefits

The Dolores project will provide adequate water supplies for the benefit
of the communities that do not have enough water to meet the peak
demands of summer and the needs of increased population growth. Monument
Creek Reservoir will supply 1,200 acre-feet per year of municipal and
industrial water for the community of Dove Creek. The annual project
supplies of 6,500 acre-feet for Cortez and 1,000 acre-feet for the
Towaoc area, stored in McPhee Reservoir will be conveyed through the
new Dolores Tunnel to a treatment facility.

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