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Fontanari and Carey Water Rights and Irrigation Report <br />The fourth and junior priority of the Martin Crawford Ditch is owned by the Ute Water Conservancy <br />District. This priority was decreed conditional for 8.0 cubic -feet per second (cfs) as an emergency supply <br />of water in case of disruption of the existing raw water supply system for general municipal and other <br />purposes with a May 1, 1982 priority date and was adjudicated in Case No. 84CW291 on December 31, <br />1984. A conditional water right is a right that has been decreed by the water court but has not been <br />perfected by diverting the water and putting it to beneficial use. Subsequently, this priority was made <br />absolute in Case No. 90CW086 on August 28, 1990. <br />Court decrees for each of the ditch priorities are contained in Appendix B. Appendix C contains the <br />official Colorado Division of Water Resources' Structure Summary Report for the Martin Crawford Ditch <br />summarizing priorities, water court decree, diversion records and other pertinent information. <br />Appendix D contains the State's official water right Abandonment List, dated December 19, 2011. Every <br />ten years, pursuant to Section 37-92-401(4) C.R.S., the Division Engineer for Water Division No. 5, in <br />consultation with the State Engineer, is required to developed an abandonment list which contains <br />those water rights that the Division Engineer has determined to have been abandoned in whole or in <br />part from non-use. The abandonment list, when concluded by judgement and decree, shall be <br />conclusive as to the water rights determined to have been abandoned. None of the four priorities of the <br />Martin Crawford Ditch are listed on the abandonment list. The State's Water Right Tabulation also <br />indicates that none of the Crawford Martin water rights have been abandoned. <br />A 1937 aerial photograph obtained for the Tri -County Area Extension office in Grand Junction along with <br />a 1954 aerial photograph from Mesa County GIS both show evidence of irrigation occurring on lands <br />currently owned by Mr. Fontanari and Mr. Carey. Copies of the photographs are provided in Appendix E. <br />Irrigation Water Demand <br />This area of western Colorado has had a history of planting pasture grasses, fruit orchards, corn, grapes, <br />vegetables and a variety of other crops. The proposed plan is to irrigate 100 acres with sprinkler and <br />micro -spray systems. There are many different crop options available to the property owners. For the <br />purposes of obtaining a water demand estimate only and not restricting crop preferences, 34 acres of <br />fruit orchards and 66 acres of pasture grass will be assumed. These areas are broken out into three <br />parcels and are shown in Appendix A. <br />Water demand is determined by estimating the evapotranspiration requirement of the crop and <br />factoring in irrigation efficiency. For evapotranspiration estimates, the Blaney-Criddle method was <br />selected. This method utilizes precipitation records, temperature, daylight hours, and frost -free days <br />along with growth coefficients to estimate total evapotranspiration often referred to as consumptive <br />use. Historic irrigation consumptive use estimates for pasture grass and orchards for the period of 1964 <br />through 2009 are provided in Appendix H. Water demand is summarized in Table 1. <br />Fox Engineering Solutions, Inc. October 2016 Page 4 <br />