PROJ00147 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Administration. The water right Is administered by the Water Commissioner for the Cache La Poudre River system. Based upon discussions with the Commissioner and with the North Poudre Manager, the water supply at the reservoir has been administered based on storage volume. The storage volume is based on the storage charts Indicating gage height versus the storage volume. The storage volume for No. 6 at the decreed gage height of 38 feet Is only known from the early decrees and Is approximately 12,000 acre-feet. The present plan for the rehabllltatlon Is at Gage Height 36 feet which provides for a storage of 9,968 acre-feet. Reservoir No. 5 has a storage volume of 8,398 acre-feet as taken from the fill charts at Gage Height 30.0 feet. Thus the total storage for both reservoirs with No.5 at Gage Height 30 feet and No.6 at Gage Height 36 feet is 18,366 acre-feet. The fill chart this information was taken from which is used by used by North Poudre and the Water Commissioner are shown In Appendix B. No Information was found to indicate where the total storage of 20,546 acre-feet as listed In the decrees originated. The storage fill charts only show No. 6 to a maximum level of Gage Height 36 feet. Whether the storage to Gage Height 38 feet was ever possible or ever achieved is not known. Water storage records were checked as far back as 1940 and the maximum fill level found was 34 feet. No Information was available to indicate the reservoir has ever been filled to more than Gauge height 34 feet. The allocation of water in the Poudre River system Is based filling each reservoir in priority or order of rank within the system. This system of filling the water right with the highest priority first Is essentially followed; however, in wet years the reservoirs will often be filled out of order. For the North Poudre reservoirs, the water commissioner treats their system as one reservoir. Water is allocated to North Poudre according to the rank of each decree within the basin and decreed volume. As a water right comes into priority, that volume of water Is allocated to North Poudre to place in one of its reservoirs as best serves the needs of North Poudre. In general. North Poudre tries to keep their water as high In the basin as possible and the water commissioner cooperates with this by filling Individual reservoirs out of priority but within the proper seniority for the company's aggregate water right. This benefits both North Poudre, the Water Commissioner, and other water users in the basin as the water can be more effectively managed and more easily allocated if It Is retained as high up In the basin as possible. Once the water Is placed in one of the lower plains reservoirs, the ability to exchange or transfer water within the system becomes very limited and the potential number of users is limited. Water Records. A summary of the water storage records for both reservoirs is shown on Figures IV-l and IV-2. For Reservoir No.5 the maximum and minimum reservoir water levels are plotted for the years 1950 through 1991. For Reservoir No. 6 the maximum and minimum reservoir water levels are plotted for the years 1940 through 1991. These are a compilation of records kept by the Water Commissioner and the monthly maintenance reports complled by The North poudre Irrigation Company. For most of the years of record, the reservoirs have been at least partially filled PAG~ 2 Chapter IV . No. 6 Feulbility