PROJ00414

• Contract/PO #: C153326
• Contractor Name: Fruitland Mesa Water Conservancy District
• Contract Type: Grant
• Water District: 0
• County: Montrose
• Bill Number: XB 99-999
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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Gunnison Tunnel.

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During any dry year when there would be a shortage in the Gunnison
River to fulfill the Gunnison Tunnel water rights, there would hardly
be any runoff in the Crystal Creek, over and above the most senior
water right of the Cattleman's Ditch (50 cfs), which could be passed
down to the Gunnison River. It is, therefore, understandable that the
water rights on the Gunnison River have never affected the status of
diversions from the Crystal Creek as has been reported. This status
is expected to continue in the future and is discussed in the succeed-
ing paragraph.

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B. Post Project Status

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The implications of the proposed project, if implemented, on the
existing adjudicated water rights would be as follows:

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1. The present annual diversion from Crystal Creek to the
Fruitland Mesa Project, based on the flow and diversion records
of the period 1941 to 1965, are reported to be 20,800 acre feet.
The project calls for an annual diversion from the Crystal Creek
of about 21,000 acre feet. This shows that the total annual
diversion from the Crystal Creek would be about the same with the
project implementation as is in the present' case without the
project.

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2. Over the period of the simulated operation study of the

project, 18,500 acre feet of water would be stored in the Gould

Reservoir on an annual basis and released on call for irrigation.

The adjudicated storage water rights of the Gould Reservoir are

15,585 acre feet. The proposed plan calls for increasing the

storage of 12,000 acre feet of water in the Gould Reservoir for

irrigation release as required.

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