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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I annual yield of the water rights either available for use or in the process of being transferred, is approximately 2,314 acre-feet whereas the safe yield (yield in a drought year such as 1954) is approximately 1,899 acre-feet. Louisville has relied on these water rights to satisfy its summer direct flow requirements by diverting the water through the Eldorado Springs pipeline into Louisville Reservoir for subsequent treatment. Although the City has relied heavily on its senior direct flow rights in the past, it has now acquired a number of junior water rights which will rely on storage capacity to produce a firm annual yield. A summary of the water rights which the City proposes to transfer into its municipal system and have available for use by spring of 1984 is shown on Table 7. These water rights have an average annual yield of approximately 679 acre-feet per year whereas the drought year yield (safe yield) is equal to zero due to their junior priority dates. In order for these rights to be of value to the City during drought periods, it is necessary to store the water rights during periods of high runoff and use the carryover storage to provide deliveries during drought periods when the water rights yield no water. D. Storage Requirements Sizing of municipal raw water storage facilities is primarily based on two criteria which include: 1) winter water demands which are normally satisfied by storage and 2) required carryover storage to meet projected demands during drought periods. Review of Louisville's water rights inventory indicates that the City's most critical requirement is for new winter storage capacity. The City's direct flow water rights consist primarily of agricultural water rights which have been transferred to municipal use and are limited by decree for use only during the irrigation season. Therefore, Louisville's winter supply during the 18