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60n~6.8 MONTEZUMA VALLEY IRRIGATION COMPANY The Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company (MVIC) is the major distributor of water to the McElmo Creek drainage near the Town of Cortez. Historically, the MVIC provided irrigation water for about 37,500 acres of land in the Montezuma Valley and also contracted to provide conveyance facilities for the delivery of municipal and domestic water for Cortez, Towaoc and some of the surrounding rural areas. Prior to the construction of McPhee dam and reservoir, the principal feature of the USSR's Dolores Project, the MVIC diverted its water supplies from the Dolores River about one mile downstream from the town of Dolores and conveyed them transbasin to the Montezuma Valley through two canal structures, the Main Canals No. 1 end No.2. The imported water was then distributed to the users via an extensive ditch and lateral system. Main Canal No. 1 delivered the water through a tunnel and into the eastern and northeastern portions of the Valley via the West Lateral, Hartman Draw and the East Lateral. The service area under this portion of the system extends to the south side of Highway 160 to near the town of Towaoc. The southern portion of the service area is at the boundary of the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation in the headwaters of Navajo Wash, a tributary of the Mancos River. The eastern and southern portions of the MVIC service area are provided water via the Rocky Ford Ditch and the Highline Ditch, laterals operated by the Company. Totten Reservoir (WDID 713601) provides regulating storage for deliveries into the Rocky Ford Ditch. Main Canal No.2 historically ran parallel to the Dolores River for about six miles and then crossed the basin divide into the McElmo Creek drainage at a low saddle known as the Great Cut. The water was then bifurcated and conveyed through the .U. Lateral and through the Lone Pine Lateral for delivery to the northwestern portion of the MVIC service area. The MVIC also owns and operates three reservoirs to regulate the delivery of water to its water users. Groundhog Reservoir (WDID 713612) is located high in the Dolores River basin and was historically used to supplement diversions through the Main Canals No.1 and No.2 in the late summer months when the natural flow of the Dolores River declines. It has a capacity of about 21 ,700 acre-feet. Narraguinnep Reservoir (WDID 713602) is an off-channel reservoir which receives water via the Main Canal No.2 and the Lone Pine Lateral. This storage was historically used to regulate late season deliveries to the MVIC irrigated lands. It has a capacity of about 19,000 acre-feet. The third MVIC reservoir is Totten Reservoir (WDID 713601), with a capacity of about 3.400 acre,feet. This facility. provides regulation of irrigation deliveries to those portions of the MVIC system under the Rocky Ford Ditch on the south side of McElmo Creek. After completion of McPhee dam and reservoir in 1984, the MVIC operation was modified. The water rights and diversions for Main Canal No.1 (formerly WDID 714673) are now delivered through the newly constructed Dolores Tunnel (WDID 714675). On the receiving side of the tunnel, the Division Engineer has separately identified the imported water according to the following uses: (1) Irrigation water deliveries to the MVIC (WDID 324675 + WDID 320697 (the Rocky Ford Inlet)); (2) Municipal deliveries to the City of Cortez (WDID 320680); (3) Domestic water deliveries to the Montezuma Water Company (WDID 322001); and (4) Dolores Project irrigation deliveries to the Ute Mountain Indians through the Towaoc-Highline Canal (WDID 320884). The water rights for the City are discussed below. The deliveries of the Indian Project water did not begin until 1994. 3