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<br />~ <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />( <br /> <br />2197 <br /> <br />Impacts from such a transfer would involve many of the same impacts on Ft. Lyon <br />sl:a .ch:,Iders, other water users, the environment, and possibly farm oriented businesses <br />as an out of basin transfer. The impacts, using the baseline analysis above, to the local <br />economy, tax base, service levels, and economic development opportunity could be <br />substantially different, however. <br /> <br />In addition, environmental mitigation could occur depending on the type of use. <br /> <br />Alternative 2: Water Supply Management <br /> <br />Prior engineering studies for the Ft. Lyon Canal Company have indicated an irrigation <br />efficiency under the canal averaging approximately 47 per cent. This value is based on <br />canal losses averaging 30 percent, lateral losses averaging 10 percent, and fann losses <br />averaging 2S percent. As previously described, a lower value of 18.24% for ditch losses <br />was used in the Kansas v Colorado litigation. Structural improvements may be proposed <br />in order to increase the irrigation efficiency under the system. These could include lining <br />of canals or laterals or other on-farm delivery improvements. In addition, this could <br />include a review or change of the management or delivery practices of the Canal Company <br />to increase the overall irrigation efficiency. Additionally, many Ft. Lyon shareholders have <br />developed supplemental ground water supplies to improve their total farm water supply. <br />The integration of additional ground water supplies into the system will be reviewed. <br />Programs such as these will be evaluated to determine whether incentives may be <br />developed so that the agricultural users would be less likely to sell water to other <br />competing uses. <br /> <br />Alternative 3: Water Salvage <br /> <br />As previously described, the Ft. Lyon Canal has seepage losses of approximately 18% to <br />30% over its 110 mile length. Seepage losses in the laterals also have previously been <br />estimated to be approximately 10%. <br /> <br />Many of the laterals have been lined to improve the water supply as water is apportioned <br />at the !av' .'cl headgate, not at the sublateral or farm headgate. In lined laterals a greater <br />farm heau, e supply per share is available and therefore a greater historic consumptive <br />use per shi.i:"e may be calculated upon which a sales price normally is established. <br />Historically, the Ft. Lyon has been irrigated by traditional flood irrigation, supplemented, <br />especially in the drought years of the 1950's with groundwater, and occasional sprinklers. <br /> <br />The feasibility of lining the main canal (as well as the storage canal, and storage <br />reservoirs) has been studied by the Ft. Lyon company itself in the past, and to some extent <br />by the current Boyle study with regard to the alternatives to Great Plains Reservoirs water <br />supply. Reduction in seepage would allow existing irrigators to increase the water supply <br /> <br />11 <br />