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/ . ;''"1 .J, , - - I ..-'"' "", Reg. Dir. Copy UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR JULIUS A. J\RUG, Secretary B\ffiEAU OF RECLAMATION MICHAEL W. STRAUS, Commissioner Washington October 1947. GENERAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE COLORADO-BIG 1HOMPSON PROJECT, COLORADO General Description The Colorado-Big Thompson Project will provide for the diversion of surplus water from tne headvlaters of the Colorado River on the western slope of the Continental Divide to lands on the eastern slope in north- eastern Colorado, to sUPFlement the present inadequate irrigation supply. Advarytage i3 also being ta\ren of the opportunities to develop important hydroelectric power. An estimated average quantity of 310,000 acre-feet of water per annum is av~ilable for diversion from a point east of Grand Lake near the head of the Colorado River, yet such diversion, with the re- placement storage proposed, will not encroach upon the present Or future irrigation requirement of western slope lands in Colorado. This depend- able supplemental supply will assure greater economic stability through reduction in drought hazards, more abundant crops, and increased income. The general plan for the project provides for supplying supplemental, water to approximately 615,000 acres of lands under cultivation as insur- ance against crop failure during dry seasons and the installation of a hydroelectric generating system with a capacity of approximately 175,500 kilowatts for industrial and domestic use. Water from the Colorado River will be stored in the Granby Reservoir on the western slope and then lifted a maximum of 181 feet by the Granby Pumping Plant into Shadow Mountain Lake~ From there the water will be diverted through the 13.07 mile long Alva B. Adams Tunnel (designed capacity 550 second-feet) under the Continental Di- vide to the eastern slope. It will then pass through a series of conduits and power plants and be stored in the three foothills reservoirs; namely, Carter Lake, Flatiron and Horsetooth Reservoirs. Water will be released from these reservoirs through supply canals into the Cache la Poudre and Little and Big Thompson Rivers and St. Vrain Creek to be rediverted through existing canal systems to lands lying within the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. The Green Mountain Reservoir on the Blue River in western Colorado will store surplus western slope water and release the stored water at appropriate times to avoid interference by the transmountain diversions with existing water rights on the Colorado River and to assist in new developments. Construction and operation of the project will change the regimen of the Colorado Riv8r requiring improvements and supplemental facilities for the irrigation of ranches and domestic use along the Colorado River between Granby Dam and Kremrnling (COlorado River Lnprovements).