PROJ00001

• Contract/PO #: C153168
• Contractor Name: Delta, City of
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 40
• County: Delta
• Bill Number: SB 77-35
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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Quantities Actually Available

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This section is intended to suggest a more realistic appraisal of
the Grand Mesa source as a water supply for the City of Delta. The City
of Delta will only be assured of the full appropriative supply from its
storage and direct flow raw water rights in order of priority whenever
the water is available. The influence of climate determines the amount
of water naturally available to fill the City's reservoirs and feed the
streams and creeks from which the City draws its supply. The order of
priority of Delta's water rights further restrict the availability of
natural flows for use by the City. The three subdrainage basins in
which the City presently owns water rights is over appropriated, that
is, the sum of the decreed amounts at every point along the stream
is more than what might naturally be flowing in the stream except
perhaps during the spring runoff. Water decrees in such a situation are
often referred to as "paper rights" and can convey a false sense of
water security.

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Sometime after the spring runoff ceases, diversion from the
streams in the Tongue Creek Basin are administrered on a decree basis
for the rest of the irrigation season. Records of actual diversions at
each headgate for direct flows and for reservoir water diverted at each
headgate are maintained by the Water Commissioner for each district
within each Irrigation Division established by the State Engineer. The
City of Delta also maintains a limited record of diversions into its
pipelines. On the basis of these two sources of information, a direct
comparison of the quantities actually diverted under the City of
Delta's water rights with the decreed amount for each water right was
made for the years 1972 through 1974.

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A summary of this comparison with the decreed amounts for each
decree owned by the City of Delta on Grand Mesa is shown in Table 11-5.
Also shown is our estimate of quantities which might be potentially
available in the future on a dependable basis. Since there are no
gaging stations on the various tributaries which would record unused
flows, these estimates are based on the previous records, discussions
with knowledgeable City employees in the water department, discussions
with the Water Commissioner, and engineering judgement.

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It must be noted that the City of Delta stores and diverts
water from these streams for municipal use in the City and for
irrigation use on the City Ranch located on Oak Creek. The ranch is
leased under contract and encompasses some 1,728 acres of land of which
approximately 348 acres are presently under irrigation. For comparison,
the amount of water processed at the filtration plant and used by the
inhabitants of the City of Delta for the three years is also shown in
the table. The difference between this amount and the total amount
diverted is taken to be the quantity of water lost in transmission
or used on the City Ranch property. All values are computed on an acre-
feet per year basis.

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