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<br />THE DAVIS FARM <br /> <br />The Colorado Water Conservation Board selected this farm by drawing <br />from a group of farms'\'lhich 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 />$7,381.15 or $359/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 = 1558 pounds/100,OOO 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 />1704 <br />