PROJ00279

• Contract/PO #: C153572
• Contractor Name: North Poudre Irrigation Company
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 3
• County: Larimer
• Bill Number: HB 85-1042
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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This was in the span of a tour year dry period from 1953 to 1956.

The reservoir is normally drawn down
irrigation season which is the elevation
labeled as MIN. G.H.. The reservoir has been
Height 0.0 in 5 of the 36 years of record and
or lower in 15 of the 36 years. Note that the
one year less than the maximum fill level
available for the years 1957, 1958, and 1959.

severely during the
shown on Figure IV-1
drawn down to Gage
to Gage Height 12.0
period of record is
as records were not

The safe yield of the reservoir could be considered to be the
storage for the year 1955 of 1,197 acre-feet which is the minimum
storage of record from 1950 to 1988. However, things have changed
since that time which would alter the future minimum storage
under a drought similar to that from 1953 to 1956. The North
Poudre Irrigation Company now has shares of CBT water that are now
introduced into the system and would alter the results of a
drought as seen in the 1950's. It is not certain what the safe
yield would now be with the present makeup of the system and could
not be determined without analyzing the whole Cache La Poudre
system. However, it is evident that a safe yield in excess of
2,000 acre-feet could be expected.

From the water records it is clear the water right is being
utilized with water being taken and stored each year. The maximum
storage has not always been utilized but the reservoir is normally
filled to close to its capacity. Since the maximum dam height is
at a Gage Height of only 26 feet, it is doubtful that a storage
level of 24 feet has been considered safe since before the 1950's.
Also, as has been indicated previously, there has been a restric-
tion on the reservoir of Gage Height 18 since 1984.

C. Water Qualitv. The water quality of Reservoir No.2 is not
expected to be a problem. Due to the turnover of the reservoir
each year, as it is nearly emptied each year, a build up of salts
and other minerals is not expected. The water supplying Reservoir
No. 2 is runoff from the mountains and from the plains and should
be of good quality. No major pollution sources are upstream of
Reservoir NO.2 other than some cattle feed lots. These are
relatively small and scattered, however, and most of the runoff is
from timberland, pasture land, and farm land. Some silt load is
expected, as for any plains reservoir, but is not expected to be
severe. This is discussed further in Chapter V.

IV-3