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I . ---.........---------- . . THE DALLAS CREEK PROJECT April 29, 1975 The Dallas Creek Project is located in west-central Colorado in the Uncompahgre River Water-shed of the upper ColoradD River Basin. The Project area is encompassed by the boundaries of the Tri-County Water Conservancy District and consists of approximately 1360 square miles within the Counties of Ouray, Montrose, and Delta, Colorado. The Uncompahgre River runs northward through the Project area from its head- waters in the high San Juan mountains to its confluence with the Gunnison River near the City of Delta, Colorado. Such a project has been under consideration by residents of the area for many decades and on April 11, 1966, investigation of the Dallas Creek Project was authorized by the Colorado River Storage Act, Public Law 84-485. The investigation and feasibility study were completed and the Project was authorized for construction by the Colorado River Basin Project Act of September 30, 1968, Public Law 90-537. The Project will regulate flows of the Uncompahgre River and its tributaries to make water available for domestic (municipal and rural), industrial and irrigation uses. It will create new recreational opportuni- ties, benefit fisheries, and provide flood and silt control. Benefits would also result, incidentally, from highway improvements. Usable water supplies would be increased by an average of appro- ximately 65,800 acre feet annually as a result of the Project Development. Approximately 27,500 acre feet of this supply will be used for domestic (municipal and rural) purposes, 8,800 acre feet for irrigation, 5,500 acre feet for industrial purposes and 24,000 acre feet for irrigation or indus- trial purposes. The domestic supplies will be used by the Cities of Montrose, Delta, and Olathe, the existing rural water companies and the Tri-County Water Conservancy District in their domestic water distribution systems. The irrigation supplies will be provided to approximately 4,000 acres with full service and the balance for supplemental service to lands in the Pro- ject area already under irrigation. The waters to be utilized by the Project consist of the spring run-off from the high snow melt and summer flood waters, averaging annually in excess of 70,000 acre feet. Water for the Project will be provided by storage in two reservoirs, Ridgway Reservoir on the Uncompahgre River and Dallas Divide Reservoir on Pleasant Valley Creek, and by pumping of natural stream flows from Dallas Creek and the Uncompahgre River through a pumping system. Some water also will be developed from local streams. Exchanges of Project supplies with existing supplies would be effected to permit opti- mum utilization of the water available.