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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />001208 <br /> <br />CHAPTER I <br /> <br />Canal <br />System <br />South <br />West <br />Montrose 6. <br />Delta <br />Loutzenhizer <br />Se lig <br />Ironstone <br />East <br />Garnet <br /> <br />Main <br />canal <br />length <br />(miles) <br />17.31.1 <br />21.2 <br /> <br />Main <br />canal <br />capaci t y <br />range <br />(c.f.s.) <br />1000 <br />150-25 <br /> <br />550-50 <br />150-25 <br />200-25 <br />350-15 <br />200-150 <br />100-50 <br /> <br />11 <br /> <br />Total <br /> <br />31.0 <br />24.4 <br />20.0 <br />19.6 <br />10.6 <br />10.6 <br /> <br />154.7 <br /> <br />1./ Includes Gunnison Tunnel <br /> <br />Lateral <br />length <br />(miles) <br />64.8 <br />17. 7 <br /> <br />101. 0 <br />14.5 <br />49.1 <br />102.5 <br />52.1 <br />~ <br /> <br />409.7 <br /> <br />Lateral <br />capacity <br />range <br />(c.f.s.) <br />100-5 <br />50-5 <br /> <br />150-5 <br />50-5 <br />100-5 <br />150-5 <br />100-5 <br />15-5 <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />Combined <br />canal and <br />lateral <br />lengths <br />82.1 <br />38.9 <br /> <br />132.0 <br />38.9 <br />69.1 <br />122.1 <br />62.7 <br />~ <br /> <br />564.4 <br /> <br />Well over 90 percent of the canals and laterals are of open earth <br />construction. Water losses in many reaches of the canals and laterals <br />are high. These losses cause a buildup of water tables, create seeps <br />and bogs, and contribute to the salt that is leached from the soils <br />and eventually reaches the Gunnison and Colorado Rivers. <br /> <br />A total of about 10 miles of the canals and laterals are lined, <br />of which about 8 miles are concrete-lined and the remaining 2 miles <br />are constructed in wooden flume section. The canal and lateral system <br />includes about 7 miles each of tunnels, siphons and flumes as well as <br />over 5,000 smaller structures such as chutes, drops, turnouts, checks, <br />bridges, culverts and measuring devices. All of the 13 tunnels of <br />the system are concrete-lined except for the initial one-half of the <br />5.8-mile Gunnison Tunnel. Nearly all of the approximately 40 siphons <br />of the system were originally constructed of wood stave pipe which <br />has been replaced later with steel and concrete pipe. Most of the <br />other structures were originally constructed of wood and the majority <br />of the smaller structures are yet of that type of construction, <br />although many have been replaced several times. Many of the more <br />than 300 original timber flumes were later replaced with sheetmetal <br />supported on timber substructures and some have more recently been <br />reconstructed as steel or concrete siphons, open concrete flumes, <br />or steel pipe flumes. <br /> <br />Project Irrigable Lands <br /> <br />When the project was authorized, it was planned that 140,000 <br />acres of lands would be irrigated by the project. At that time, little <br />investigational work had been done to establish the productive capabil- <br />ity of the lands under sustained irrigation usage. Subsequent exper- <br />ience and investigations have shown that many of the lands are too <br />rough and irregular for economic development and that soils in some <br />areas are heavy, shallow and highly saline. The originally planned <br />acreage also covered all lands in the project irrigation service area <br />