PROJ00540 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

V-10 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I drained. Also, there are significant freezing problems around the headg~te if the water level is low. (These problems are basically the reason for this report.) 8. Alternative 8 - optimize Use of Existina Water Riahts. Discussion. According to the rough estimates listed in Table IVH, there is abput 146 AC of water available from the Town's. surface and subsurface water rights in a minimum flow year. In an average year, there would be 429 AF available. As previously discussed, the amount of water that is available is very difficu~t to verify. There are no actual flow measurements of either surface diversions or subsurface diversions. Feasibilitv. Although flows are obviously quite small, particularly during the winter, there is some water available. Even a small flow, if it occurs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, can amount to a substantial amount of water. Therefore, it is worthwhile to attempt to quantify and verify the actual amount of water available to the Town from its direct flow rights. ~herefore, this option will be investigated more thorpughlYi again, it cannot be compared directly with other alternatives since it is only a supplemental supply. 9. Alternative 9 - Reauest Ownership in Union Carbide Water Riahts. Discussion. Union Carbide has senior water rights on the San Miguel River, Which they no longer need since they are shutting down the Uravan operation. The water rights are equivalent to 35 to 3S cfs and are apparently the No 1 or No 2 rights on the River. Union Carbide has placed the water rights in a trust fund until they are completely done with their renovation work at the Ur~van plant. The reason for this was to protect the water rights in case the company was sued because of the hazardous waste at the site. After remediation has been completed and accepted by the state, the water rights will be transferred to the Colorado Water Conservation Board. A stipulation is that the water rights will stay in the San Miguel basin. An agreement between Union Carbide and Naturita, Nucla and Montrose County states that the th~ee entities will have the first right of refusal to purchase the water rights from the Colorado Water Conservation Board. It is unlikely that the water would be available till the year 2000 or 2003.