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... ilL aOJ573 COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD 102 Columbine Building 1845 Sherman Street Denver, Colorado 80203 March 12, 1973 WEST DIVIDE PROJECT The West Divide project lies in parts of Garfield, Mesa and Pitki.n counties in west-central Colorado. Specifically the majority of the project lands lie between Glenwood and DeBeque along the Colorado River beside a part of Interstate Highway 70. The northern portion of the project area is on bottom lands of the Colorado River Valley which lie at the base of the Roan Plateau which contains some of the world's richest oil shale deposits. The southern portion is on mesas above the river. The eastern portion extends to the town of Carbondale, the center of some coal mining activities in the nearby canyons. The project was authorized by the Congress in 1968 as a par- ticipating project of the Colorado River Storage Project. The West Divide Water Conservancy District was organized in 1964 as the sponsoring and contractual agency for the project. This district includes portions of Garfield, Mesa and Pitkin counties. Plan of Development The West Divide project is planned primarily to provide water for irrigation and for municipal and industrial use in connection with development of natural resources in the area. It also would provide benefits to recreation, fish and wildlife and flood control. Project water would be obtained from a series of Colorado River tributaries south of the river. Crystal River flows would be regulated at Placita Reservoir. Some reservoir releases would be made directly to the river for downstream uses. Most of the releases, however, would be diverted into the Huntsman Canal and conveyed westward to West Divide Creek for subsequent distribution in the western portion of the project area by the East and West Divide Canals. The diverted flows would be supplemented by water stored in Haystack Reservoir on small tributaries of West Divide Creek. Natural flows at Haystack Reservoir would be