BOARD01741

• Board Meeting Date: 6/20/1955
• Description: Minutes and Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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':>,2 80

With reference, to re-authorization, the State of
Colorado has already taken an official position in
this regard. I refer to a Resolution adopted at the
April meeting of the Water Board in 1953 which reads
as follows:

~EREAS the construction of Wagon Wheel Gap Dam,
a unite of the San Luis Valley Projec~ on the
Rio Grande in Colorado, was authorized by the
Secretary of ~he Interior on February 1, 1940,

I

AND, WHEREAS, a supplemental report prepared by
the Bureau of Reclamation is npw in the office
of the Secretary of the Interior for action,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Colorado
State Water Conservation Board, that the Secretary
of the Interior be requested to approve said
report and request the appropriation of funds to
complete the construction of Wagon Wheel. Gap Dam,
on the basis of the 1940 authorization, without
referring the matter to any states for comment,
and without securing the re-authorization of
said project by the Congress.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Colorado Congressional
delegation, the Secretary of the Interior, the
Commissioner of Reclamation and the Governor of
the State of Colorado be provided copies of this
resolution with a request to aid in its implementation."

I realize that it may be difficult to persuade the
present Secretary of the.Interior to take this step but
we certainly want to try.

Whether re-authorization by the Congress is finally
deemed necessary or not, it is essential that we retain any
benefits which might arise out of the 1940 date of the
original authorization.

With reference to the Fish and Wildlife report, it I
recommends.a minimum out flow from.the Reservoir of 60
cubic feet per second at.all times. This would mean
an annual loss, on the average to the landowners of
approximately 8000 acre feet per year or perhaps 1/12th
of the total amount of average storage available to the