C153701 Feasibility Study

• Contract/PO #: C153701
• Contractor Name: Fort Morgan, City of & Fort Morgan Water Works and Distribution Enterprise
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 1
• County: Weld
• Bill Number: SB94-029
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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Section 2 - Study Area Descriptions

The only treated water storage is a standpipe located near the center of the City. The
standpipe is 20 feet in diameter, 110 feet tall and has a volume of approximately 225,000
gallons (Montgomery 1986). The storage tank provides a small amount of emergency
storage and helps maintain a constant pressure on the distribution system.

Distribution System

The existing water distribution system consists of more than 220,000 linear feet of
pipeline (Montgomery 1986). The cast or ductile iron pipe sizes range from 4 inches to
14 inches in diameter. The oldest parts of the distribution system were installed prior to
1950, but since the late 1970's several additions and renovations have been completed.

Water pressures do not exceed 50 psi. A hydraulic analysis of the system was completed
in 1986 by Montgomery.

Water Rights

The City has adjudicated water rights on three of their fourteen wells. The adjudicated
wells are (Montgomery 1986):

Ninth Street - 100 acre-feet per year
Vicki Street - 260 acre-feet per year
Acoma Street - 100 acre-feet per year

Water pumped by City wells is also augmented through the Groundwater
Appropriators of the South Platte River Basin, Inc. (GASP). The City owns 19 units in
GASP and has the use of another 19 units through a contract with GASP which means
that up to 3,800 acre-feet of water which can be augmented annually through GASP.
GASP obtains its augmentation water from three primary sources. (1) approximately 20
recharge ponds that fill with water during periods when no other water users call for
water, (2) from 17 wells located in the lower end of the South Platte River which
provide a substitute supply of water directly'to the river or senior ditch companies, and
(3) from water purchased from ditch and reservoir companies for direct replacement to
the river.

The City owns numerous surface water rights including 118 shares in the Fort Morgan
Reservoir and Irrigation Company (FMRlC). The City acquired the FMRlC shares
primarily through the process of annexing land as the City has grown. At the present
time, the City leases its water to area farmers when the opportunity exists.

In 1988, the City purchased 3,000 units of C-BT water from the Riverside Irrigation
Company, a ditch company headquartered in Fort Morgan. Since that time, the City has
purchased additional C-BT units from other entities and now owns a total of 4,653 C-
BT units. An analysis of the historical annual C-BT delivery quotas for the period 1957-

MONTGOMERY WATSON

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