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7 " '..... {' :~., ~'j u'cj FORMATION ..QLQONSERVANCY DISTRICT House Document No. 187 reported the project service area to be .322s000 acres of irrigated la.nd located entirely in the Arkansas River Valley between Leadville and the Oolorado-Kansas State line. That acreage was determined by a semidetailed land classification made in 19.39-1940 for the area below Pueblo and by a reconnaissance survey during 1941-1942 of the lands above Pueblo. These land classi- fication surveys were reviewed in 1954-1955. The review included section-by-section checks of the original field sheets and corrections of deficiencies in the data pertaining to soils, drainage, and. topo- graphic conditions. In 1957 the potential project water users, with leadership by the Water Iavelopment Association of Southeastern Colorado, estab- lished tentative boundaries for a conservancy district and began circulation of petitions for its creation. The boundaries delineated by the petitions excluded lands in the Arkansas Valley that obtain irrigation serVice by diversions from the river below John Martin Reservoir and lands served by the Las Anilnas Town Canal in Bent County and by the Booth Orchard Ditch in Pueblo Oounty. The latter two ditches requested exclusion from the conservancy district. The district boundaries also include irrigated lands in the Fountain River Valley in El Paso and Pueblo Counties which will benefit by return flows :f'rom municipal water used in Colorado Springs. In February 1958 the District Oourt in Pueblo received the petitions for creation of the conservancy district. Shortly there- after the court held hearings on this matter. On April .30, 1958, the judge of the court approved the formation of the Southeastern Colorado Water Oonservancy District. Subsequently, a board of directors for the district was appointed by the court. With the creation of the conservancy district a revised tabulation was made of the irrigable lands that might be served by the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project. The results of the land classifica- tion of 19,4-1955 were imposed upon the district area. As the classi- fication had been confined to the Arkansas River Valley it was neces- sary to use State reports on the irrigated acreage in the Fountain River Valley. A summary of the irrigable (project) lands in the district follows'on the next page.