PROJ00476

• Contract/PO #: C153594
• Contractor Name: Handy Ditch Company
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 4
• County: Larimer
• Bill Number: HB 91-1006
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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CHAPTER VII
PROJECT EVALUATION

Storage in Welch Reservoir will be restricted by the Office of the State
Engineer if the needed repairs to the No. 1 outlet works and the dam are not
made. A storage restriction would result in the loss of over 5,000 acre-feet
of water per year to farmers within the service area. This water is not the
only source of irrigation supply for these farmers, but is a supplemental
supply which allows growing of higher income producing crops such as corn and
sugar beets compared with grains such as wheat and barley. If the required
improvements are not made, the farmers will suffer a reduction in income. In
very general terms, the income reduction is estimated as follows:
10,000 total irrigated acres - cropping patterns were obtained from
Handy Ditch Company officials as follows:

Corn - 3,200 acres
Pinto beans - 2,200 acreS
Alfalfa hay - 1,700 acres
Grain - 1,700 acres
Sugar beets - 1,200 acres

Yields of these crops are estimated by using an average of the
production capabilities of the major soils types identified by the Soil
Conservation Service (Chapter III, Land) in the Welch Reservoir service area.
The yields are shown below for the land served by Welch Reservoir, along with
the estimated gross income from these crops:
Corn - 150 bu. x 3,200 acres = 480,000 bu.
@$2.50 per bu. =
,

$1,200,000

Pinto beans - 2500 lbs. x 2200 acres = 5,550,000 lbs.
@$20/100 wt. = $1,100,000

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