PROJ00159

• Contract/PO #: C153305
• Contractor Name: Dolores Water Conservancy District
• Water District: 0
• County: Dolores
• Bill Number: XB 99-999
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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Some areas in the Dolores Water Conservancy District do not have stable water supplies

or water rights. Since their supply depends on irrigation water which is seasonal or

is obtained from wells that are not fully reliable, they must obtain their water by

hauling from town. In the rural community between Cahone and Dove Creek, for example,

private haulers are contracted to transport drinking water from either Cortez or

Dove Creek.

Raw Water Supplies and Storage:

Raw water supply for the treatment and transmission facilities proposed in this

report is expected to come from the Dolores Project, which the Bureau of Reclamation

has indicated will be in operation by 1984. McPhee Reservoir on the Dolores River

is the primary storage feature of the project (See General Map in Fig. 4-4). It

has a total capacity of 381,000 acre-feet. For the Cortez-Towaoc area, municipal

and industrial supplies will be released through the Dolores Tunnel and transported

in the Dolores Canal and Cortez-Towaoc pipeline. The Dove Creek Canal will deliver

raw water to a treatment facility serving the rural communities to the northwest.

Anticipated interruptions in the delivery of water through the outlet channels of

McPhee Reservoir are of primary importance in assessing raw water storage requirements.

If water is prevented from flowing in the Dove Creek Canal or Dolores Tunnel for

significant periods of time, the proposed treatment plants must be supplied from

on-site atorage facilities.

In the bureau's operational study covering a 46-year period, no shortage of domestic

water was found to occur, since municipal and industrial users have first priority

to the project water. For the water to be physically available, the pool level in

McPhee Reservoir must be maintained above the portal elevation of the Dolores Tunnel.

This will make unnecessary the provision of a separte storage facility to supply

the treatment plant during critical raw water shortages.

The Dolores Tunnel will have to be periodically removed from service for cleaning

and maintenance. Bureau personnel have indicated that the downtime resulting from

this operation could be 2 or 3 days during the off-peak season. Consequently, the

raw water reservoir for the Rim site treatment plant has a storage capacity of

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