WSP01844

• File Number: 8441.400
• Description: Colorado Big Thompson Project - Reports
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 6/1/1952
• Author: HE Prater
• Title: Irrigation Aspects of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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ColoradO: River and Blue River Irrigation Improvements

!Before proceeqing to the main project area, further discussion
of Westeli'n Slope improvements is .in ord.er.

As mentioned previously, irrigation facilities supplying lands
along the;Blue River below Green Mountain Dam and along the ColQrado
River bet!ween Granby Dam and Kremmling were adapted to meet the.
changed qonditions resulting from controlled flows in these two stretches
of the rivj:lrs. Along the Blue River, seven automatic head gates were in-
stalled, iMets to the head-gate structures were reconstructed, and some
work wasiperformed on the upper ends of the canals. Considerable work
was done 'on the Loback Ditch to adapt it to the changed river regimen
and to pr9vide for irrigating meadow land which was formerly subject to
annual flop dings at high stages of now in the Blue and Colorado Rivers.
This construction consisted of a timber and rock-fill diversion dam, a
head-gatejstructure with automatic radial gate, a suspension;bridge
with a 152i-foot span carrying three 20-inch steel pipes, and a canal sys-
tem of 23 second-feet capacity.

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Ailong the Colorado River, improvements to irrigation systems
to protect ivested rights will provide: for the diversion of approximately
150 seconq feet of water. The headworks of existing ditches have been
improved and diversions extended upstream, and canal systems and
dikes havel been constructed to irrigate meadow lands. In the area near
Kremmlink where theColora40 River formerly provided irrigation of
meadow laj1ds by overflow and flooding, 12 pumping units having a com-
bined capaf. ity of 85 second feet have been installed to pump directly
from the r .ver, and systems of ditches and dikes have been constructed
to direct the flow across the meadow lands. Through lump-sum payment
of $2.0, 000 iby the United States, arrangements were made for the town
of Hot Sulp~ur Springs to improve its own domestic water supply.

The Irriga~ed Area

Tl:\e project area in northeastern Colorado extends from the
foothills of !the Rocky Mountains to the Colorado-Nebraska state line.
Approxima~ely 1,481,000 acres of land are included within the bound-
aries of thci Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which was
organized itJ, 1938 as the operating and repayment entity for contracting
with the Goyernment for the project. Nearly half of the land in the Dis~
.trict, or 7017, 710 acres, is currently classed as irrigated although the
greater portion has insufficient water to assure the optimum agricul-
tural produqtion possi.ble under an irrigated farm economy. The irri-
gated areasiwithin the District are served by 132 ditch systems and
more than 6:0 principal storage reservoirs. These irrigation systems
were developed and constructed almost entirely by private' enterprise
and capital through several types of organizations, including mutual or
cooperative 1stock companies, private compani.es, and irrigation dis-
tricts. The-systems range in size from very small ditches designed to
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