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\'101983 . WATER PROJECT INCLUDED IN WILDERNESS HEARINGS (continued) Page Tl<a COVERED CANAL Water from Noniger and Dickson Creeks will be b:ought to Piney Reservoir vi" " 4-mile-long covered canal. The reservoir, on the site of the present Piney Lake, will hold about 45,000 acre feet of water, more than doubling the size of the natural lake, Ogilvie said. The department has purchased 72-acre Piney Lake prop- erty for $125,000. He said wa~er collected from the system will be stored in the reservoir to provide maximum recreation potential at the reservoir during the summer. Nearly all the water beiAg collected is fram melting snow in the Gore Range, he said. All collections are by gravity flow. "Of course persons with existing prior water rights will get the water theylre entitled to," he said, noting that the Totm of Vail.holds water rights prior to 1900. He also acknowledged that dOI1Ustream water users have been using water Denver claims and will diminish the project summer flows in the streams. . SUMMER SYSTEM This system will collect about 70,000 acre-feet of water annually, almost all of it from May through September. "We don I t plan to divert any water from October to April," Ogilvie said. On the southwest side of Vail Pass 12 miles of tunnel are planned along with a 25,OOO-acre-foot'reservoir on the East ~ork of the Eagle River on the south end of Camp Hale. From streams on the north side of Tennessee Pass near Leadville, water would be collected in the Reservoir and brought through the Pando tunnel. At Wearyman Creek, Lime Creek and Turkey Creek more water would he diverted and brought through another segment of tunnel to the western pottal of the V,il Pass Tunnel., . This 'is the "souths ide collection system." . LONG RANGE PLAN "This would be done over a period of several years ," Ogilvie said, "but we'd do the no rtha ide sys tem fi rs t . " He explained there is a possibility of working with Aurora and Colorado Springs to bring some Homestake (water development) froject water through the Denver system to Aurora, thus avoiding a duplication of construction. Environmental 'precautions are being built into the project, Ogilvie said. They include minimum disturbance of natural features, covering canals and then seedings them to shrubs and grasses, camouflaging diversion works by building them of tinted materials, facing them with natural rack, backfilling and other measures a "We want to make the least possible impact on the environment," Ogilvie said, "arid if after we're through the Forest Service wishes to close off some of the access roads, the system is designed to be operated and maintained with a minimum of access." -,