BOARD02195

• Board Meeting Date: 9/12/1964
• Description: Minutes
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

~V.,J.,J

I

About 100,000 acre-feet of water annually is
required to pass the state line in order to
comply with the terms of the South Platte
River Compact. This means that on the average
there is about 240,000 acre-feet of water avail-
able for use in Colorado which is now being
wasted at the state line.

The need for additional reservoir storage
on the lower South Platte River has long been
recognized. Records disclose that in 1910 a
filing was made by private interests for the
construction of a dam at the Narrows site about
six miles upstream from Fort Morgan. Another
filing was made in the same year by other
interests for construction of a dam at the
Old Fort Reservoir site about one and one-half
miles above Fort Morgan. We presume that
these filings have lapsed.

In the early 1940's the United States
Bureau of Reclamation conducted reconnaissance
surveys on the lower South Platte River in
Colorado. In 1944 the result of this recon-
naissance survey was published as Senate Docu-
ment No. 191. Six separate dam sites on the
South Platte River were studied. In downstream
order those sites were the Hardin (we now call
this the Weld County site), Goodrich, weldona,
Narrows, Fort Morgan and Old Fort Morgan. The
reconnaissance studies resulted in the elimina-
tion of the Hardin, Goodrich and Old Fort
Morgan sites. Further study eliminated the
Weldona site. Subsequent detailed investiga-
tions resulted in the selection of the site
that we now call the Narrows.

I

On July 24, 1946, (almost 20 years ago
now), the United States Congress approved the
comprehensive plan for the Missouri River Basin
Project, which included the Narrows Unit in
Colorado. In 1947 the Congress appropriated
$300,000 for initiation of construction of the
Narrows Unit. Additional funds were made avail-
able in the years 1949 through 1951.

With the initial appropriation, the Bureau