Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Summit County, The brand new town of Battlement Mesa, constructed to house employees of <br />the oil shale industry. 1ransitioned remarkably easily to a retirement community. Growing <br />needs for water in support of the expanding urban and i'ecreational areas of the West Slope as <br />well as for significant new uses such as snowmaking in the wintertime are making West Slope <br />interests major players (in addition to those in the Grand Valley and those making <br />transmountain diversions) in decisions respecting uses of Colorado River Basin water. <br />Demands for water in the Grand Valley have an important influence on water uses in <br />the Upper Colorado River Basin, Efforts by the Orchard Mesa Irrigation District (OMID) to <br />obtain a water court decree for operation of what is called ''the check" illustrate well the <br />nature of this influence. Water for lands within OMID is diverted at the Roller Dam, <br />siphoned under the river, and moved through the power canaI to the pumping plant where it is <br />lifted up onto the mesa. The four hydraulically-driven pumps use about 272 cfs of water to <br />pump 171 cfs of water used for irrigation.l9 The 272 cfs normally returns directly to the <br />Colorado River through the plant tailrace. In addition, Public Service Company of Colorado <br />constructed a hydroelectric generating facility at this location in 1933. Capacity constraints in <br />the Grand Valley Project diversion system limit the operation of the power plant during the <br />peak irrigation season to a maximum of 310 cfs.40 <br />In 1926, the Grand Valley Project installed a radial gate "check" at the point where the <br />tailrace enters the river and built a bypass channel allowing water to enter the Colorado River <br />at a point about 100 yards further upstream. Motivation to build and operate this system <br />, <br />came from the need to meet the senior priority of the GVIC system whose headgate is <br />immediately above the point where the pumping plant tailrace joins the Colorado River. <br />Thus, without the check in operation, return flows from the tailrace are not available to <br />GVIC. During the late part of the irrigation season when natural flows of the river are low, <br />the senior call of GVIC could reduce diversions at the Roller Dam. [insert figure showing the <br />check about here] <br /> <br />" Robert E. Nonnan, Grand Valley Water Management Study: A Carrot or a Hammer? 1993. <br /> <br />.. !!!.at_. <br /> <br />17 <br />