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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />mostly of snowmelt from the mountains, flows are inadequate during the late summer when <br />snowmelt has diminished and irrigation requirements are greatest. <br /> <br />Additional water supplies for irrigation in July, August and September are needed. In a typical <br />year in the Norwood-Redvale area, available water supplies are only about 15 percent of the <br />amount required for a full water supply during the late summer months. In some areas, such as <br />the lower part of the Gurley Ditch, early season water is also needed. Additional storage could <br />provide both late season and early season water. Early season water could be provided either <br />by carry-over storage or by revisions to the operating procedures. <br /> <br />Background <br /> <br />Investigations by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) for the San Miguel Project were <br />published in the 1966 "Feasibility Report - San Miguel Project, Colorado' and in the 1982 <br />"Planning Report on the San Miguel Project, Colorado." The San Miguel Project was one of the <br />projects authorized for construction in the Colorado River Basin Project Act of September 30, <br />1968 (Public Law 90-537), The 1982 report concluded, however, that a San Miguel Project, as <br />proposed at that time, was not economically feasible. <br /> <br />Most of the alternatives studied by the USBR involved mainstem reservoirs on the San Miguel <br />River to provide both irrigation and M & I water supplies. It is the desire of the study participants <br />and the CWCB to consider smaller, less expensive project configurations which do not require <br />mainstem reservoirs for irrigation supplies, <br /> <br />In 1984, two preliminary studies were conducted under the sponsorship of the CWCB, the <br />SMWCD and the Southwest Water Conservation District. They are the "Lone Cone Reservoir <br />Enlargement Project Feasibility Study' and the "Reconnaissance Report for the San Miguel <br />Project Rescoping Study". The preliminary studies were completed in 1985 with a <br />recommendation for a program of improvements and expansions to the three major irrigation <br />systems in the study area. <br /> <br />In January 1985, the SMWCD made application to the CWCB for partial funding for the Lone <br />Cone Reservoir expansion and for the SMWCD Project as outlined in the "Reconnaissance <br />Report for the San Miguel Project Rescoping Study". The CWCB recommended authorization <br />of the projects to the Colorado General Assembly which authorized them in HB 1042 of the <br />1985 session, <br /> <br />4 <br />