WSP05149

• File Number: 8180.800
• Description: Purgatoire River Project
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 9/1/1949
• Author: RJ Tipton
• Title: Engineering Report on Flood Control and Irrigation District with Particular Reference to the Piedmont Bridge Dam and Reservoir Site
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

h~
f~{
".'.'\
.....
<.>
..'

o
en
CJl
CJ

,
;tt,k#

i
I
I
i
I
I

..:;.;";~
. .:

.....'..l.
.... ..
~".:;::'J

i
I
1

..

re-regulating reservoir would exceed the value of the hydro-

electric energy. It is apparent that the~remaining possible

benefit of supplying domestic water could not pay the difference

between the cost of the reservoir and the recognizable nonre-

imbursable benefits, and the amount of income that could be ex-

pected from the water users and conservancy district.

The construction of the Piedmont Bridge Reservoir as a

multiple purpose project, therefore, is considered to be economi-

cally infeasible at the present time.
It is recommended that the City of Trinidad take steps to

support the authorized flood control project, and that the merits

of an irrigation reservoir, which would include incidental flood

control benefits and possibly storage for domestic water, be in-
vestigated at a time when construction costs are lower and when

and if the reclamation law is sufficiently liberalized to make

such a project feasible.

PREVIOUS REPORTS AND I~NESTIGATIONS

Corps of Engineers. The so-called 308 Reports of the 74th
Congress, 1st Session, were reports made by the Corps of Engi-
neers on a large number of river basins of the United States.

The PurgatOire River was first considered by the Corps of Engi-

neers as a part of that series of investigations, and it was re-
ported on in House Docunlent No. 308 of the above Congress. In

this report the Corps of Engineers made the following finding:
"In the Purgatoire River Basin, no material

increase in irrigated area can be made in

-5-