BOARD01567

• Board Meeting Date: 5/1/1975
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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period of May-September.

Mr. Burr: If that is narrowed down enough, that would swim a horse. I
just wondered if that was just keeping them -- keeping the fish alive?

Mr. Sparks: The statute does not say anything about keeping the fish
al1ve. It provides that this Board shall make appropriations for the
reasonable protection for the natural environment, which includes fish,
aquatic life and any other types of wildlife.

Also, the esthetic qualities of the streams is a part of the protectien
of a natural environment.

Mr. Vandemoer: I have two questions, one on your McPhee Dam site,
seventy-eight second feet. Most of these go ten miles, twelve times
that is one hundred and eight miles. I assume by that you mean you turn
seventy-eight feet loose, and there is shrinkage, and losses are taken
as that goes one hundred and eight miles.

Mr. Sparks: Yes. That would be the release from the dam itself. The
critical part of that stream is below the Montezuma Valley diversion
which occurs just a few miles below the town of Dolores. As you get to
the lower end of the river it actually picks up. The San Miguel River
runs into the Dolores before it leaves the state of Colorado.

Mr. Vandemoer: Well, then, as an irrigator, my question then comes
around to when you get down below the dam. I assume eventually the water
comes out for farming. How do you decide how much of this seventy-eight
feet still remains in the stream and how much is allowed to be taken
by these rights along the river?

Mr. ~arks: All of the existing rights on the Dolores River are senior
to t Dolores project. Their rights are not affected at all.

Mr. Vandemoer: I got confused, because I would agree, except when you
release water from the reservoir, I thought this water could be held
for fish.

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Mr. Sparks: Part of the seventy-eight second feet will, I assume, go
for irrigation also.

Mr. Vandemoer: How do you decide your loss as it goes downstream? In
other words, if you have to leave some for fish, I don't see how the
engineers, how they can run the river.

Mr. Starks: In arriving at this study, we computed the diversions.
Actua ly, there are very few diversions from the river below McPhee.
The big one is the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company which essentially
dries up the stream. However, once the project is built, the water for
Montezuma will be diverted through the project facilities. Therefore
the releases from the dam will remain essentially intact.

Mr. Vandemoer: What you are saying, there is no problem with irrigation

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