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<br />~;" <br />CJl <br />c..~ <br />l,; <br /> <br />THE DAVIS FARM <br /> <br />The Colorado Water Conservation Board selected this farm by drawing <br />from a group of farms"which met the criteria of readily available water <br />and electrical supply. It is situated north and east of Palisade, <br />Colorado, and just outside the city limits. <br /> <br />Because of a limited budget, all of the installation work was <br />performed by CWCB personnel. The total cost of this installation was <br />$7;381.16 or $369/acre! This paper will describe the design and outline <br />some of the problems one might encounter with a similar installation. <br /> <br />I. The Filtration Unit <br /> <br />The importance of good filtration cannot be overemphasized. Con- <br />sideration should be given toward obtaining suspended solids samples of <br />the water to be used., At times the Colorado River will carry as much as <br />200 ppm suspended solids. Using this figure <br /> <br />200 X 8.34 = 1668 pounds/100,000 gallons <br /> <br />(since we often run about 50,000 gallons per day) there could be a ton <br />of material every three days. Much of the fine material will pass <br />through the filtering system, therefore we recommend a weekly flushing <br />of the lines during severe muddy conditions. <br /> <br />The manufacturer of our filter equipment has recommended that a <br />figure of 25 GPM/square foot of filter surface be used. Experience has <br />shown this figure to be somewhat inadequate for the time when the river <br />is running high in sediment. At this.time we believe that from 15 to 17 <br />GPM/square foot is necessary. We have found that after about sixty days <br />use, the filter sand becomes coated with clay that is not cleaned off <br />in the backwash. The filter sand cleans easily in a strong sulfuric acid <br />solution. The filter system should be equipped with a pressure sensing <br />device which can be set at the desired pressure differential for back- <br />washing. The pressure differential must be set low enough that when the <br />backwash cycle begins there is enough water still getting through the <br />system to flush the first tank. If there isn't enough water to do this <br />backwash, the system will completely plug up. When this happens you have <br />to reach into the filters and stir the top sand so the water will start <br />through. <br /> <br />After the sand, filters a 180 mesh screen filter was placed to catch <br />anything that might get by the sand filters. One of the problems <br />encountered was that this final filter was clogging too rapidly and it <br />required the constant attention of someone to clean the screen. Part of ' <br /> <br />~ /'4.+..;,.& vo1''(, P,.o~.+ c.~.f .t,b....f k,5'uo f'v "<c-, fw ....i..,./~_ <br />