WSP08261

• File Number: 8131.600
• Description: Southeastern Colorado Water conservancy District - SECWCD
• State: CO
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 1/1/1972
• Title: Brochure No 5 - The Fryingpan-Arkansas Water Project and It's Structure -- The Future of the Arkansas Valley is It's Water---
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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THE PROJECT AND THE DISTRICT

The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy
District (embracing the irrigoble lands and munici-
palities of the Arkansas River Basin within the Proj-
ect area) was created in 1958 under the Colorado
Water Conservancy District Statutes for developing
and administrating the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project
(see Brochure No.1).

The Fryingpon-Arkonsas Water Project began as
o dream many years ago, when a few visionary men
and women realized the seriousness of water. They
set about studying the water lows of Colorado; the
amounts of water to which the citizens of this State
were legally entitled, but which they were not using:
the engineering involved in making this water avail-
able to the citizens of Colorado: and the procedures
to be followed in making their dreams a reality.
They sifted reoms of information, held countless In-
State and Out-of.State meetings, and finally deter-
mined the Fryingpan Project was the best way to get
Colorado and Arkansas River water for the present
and future citizens of this semi.arid Arkansas Valley.

On August 16, 1962, President John ~. Kennedy
signed the Bill, passed earlier by the Congress of the
United States, creating the Fryingpan-Arkansas Proj.
ect. The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy
District became the legal agency responsible for the
repayment of the reimbursable portion of this multi-
million dollar, multi.purpose Project. The information
contained in this, and other Brochures, explain the
critical role being performed by the District and the
serious responsibilities which have been imposed upon
the fifteen men who serve os Directors for this
agency.

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The headquarters for the Southeastern Colorado
Water Conservancy District is located at 905 Highway
50 West in Pueblo, Colorado. The District is governed
by a Board of Directors consisting of fifteen men
representing all segments of the economy in the Con-
servancy District. These Directors, in behalf of the
nearly 400,000 citizens who live within the confines
of the District, have assumed the responsibility of
repaying a large share of the reimbursable portion
of the Project through the sale of imported Project
water, storage f_ees for native water in the East
Slope Reservoirs, and the sale of native woter stored
and not used within a specific period. The District,
os provided by law levies an ad valorem tax an-
nually which becomes part of the repayment pro-
gram.

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lOCATION

The Fryingpan-Arkansas Project is located in
central and southeastern Colorado. The collection and
diversion area is located in a mountainous and primi-
tive area above an elevation of 10,000 feet on'the
headwaters of the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork
Rivers on the West Slope of the Continental Divide
in Pitkin and Eagle Counties. The service area of the
Proiect is located in the Arkansas River Basin on the
East Slope of the Continental Divide in lake, Chaf-
fee, Fremont, ?ueblo, El Poso, Otero, Crowley, Bent,
Prowers and Kiowa Counties. The headwaters of the
Arkansas River lie above timberline in the high
mountains near leadville. The river then flows south
and east through canyons and foothills to the gently
rolling high plains of eastern Colorado. The Arkansas
River in Colorado stretches 340 miles from the Roc-
ky Mountains to the Colorado-Kansas boundary and
comprises and area of 26,150 square miles or ap-
proximately one fourth of the total area of the State.

The Project headquarters is located in the First
Notional Bank Building in the City of Pueblo. Other
principal Cities in the East Slope Proiect area are
leadville, Buena Vista, Solido, Canon City, Colorado
Springs, Rocky Ford, la Junta and las Animas.

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HISTORY OF THE AREA

The Arkansas River Basin wos first explored by
the Spanish from 1760 to 1780. The first official ex-
ploration by the United States was made in 1806 by
It. Zebulon Pike. later explorations were directed by
Captain John C. Fremont and Captain John W.
Gunnison. The first permanent settlements were es-
tablished after the discovery of gold in 1859. In the
ensuing years, a large influx of settlers to the Arkan-

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