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~] <br />'• Sage Creek Dam failed in 1984 and has not been repaired. The failure and subsequent <br />flood washed out the diversion dam for the Sage Creek Reservoir Outlet Ditch. The diversion <br />dam was repaired and diversions have occurred in the past few years. <br />The plan for augmentation proposed herein involves changing the water rights for the <br />' Sage Creek Reservoir and the Sage Creek Reservoir Outlet Ditch from irrigation to industrial <br />purposes and adding places of storage and points of diversion. Limitations to the proposed <br />changes will involve the historical use of the structures and historical irrigation practices. The <br />' following discussions describe the water rights and document the historical use of the water <br />rights. This information was obtained from the State Engineer's office, discussions with <br />Truman Manes (the former Water Commissioned, and a meeting with Bob Barnes on <br />' September 28, 1988. <br />Water Rights <br />Sage Creek Reservoir was decreed for irrigation purposes in Civil Action No. 1071 by <br />' the Routt County District Court on July 22, 1916. It was for 804 acre-feet with an <br />appropriation date of June 30, 1908. Pertinent aspects of the water right are shown in Table <br />4 and this decree is included as Attachment A. <br />' The Bates Ditch water right was decreed for irrigation purposes on September 22, <br />1897 by the Routt County District Court. It was for 2.0 cfs with an appropriation date of <br />June 19, 1897. Pertinent aspects of this water right are shown in Table 4 and this decree <br />is shown in Attachment B. In Civil Action No. 1070 (July 14, 1916), the Court transferred <br />1.0 cfs from the Bates Ditch to the Sage Creek Reservoir Outlet Ditch. This decree is shown <br />' in Attachment C. In Case No. 91CW116, the remaining 1.0 cfs was abandoned. <br />Diversion Records <br />' Diversion and storage records were obtained for the Sage Creek Reservoir Outlet Ditch, <br />Dry Creek Ditch, and Sage Creek Reservoir from the State Engineer's office for 1965 through <br />' 1993. Descriptions of the diversion records follow. <br />Sage Creek Reservoir Outlet Ditch. The ditch diverted streamflow and releases from <br />' Sage Creek Reservoir. The diversions averaged 232.3 acre-feet annually and ranged from <br />none in several years to 865.8 acre-feet in 1975. The diversions normally began in late May <br />to early June and continued into late August. There were no diversions from 1985 through <br />' 1990 due to the failure of Sage Creek Dam, and from 1991 through 1993 the ditch diverted <br />small amounts of streamflow. The records are summarized in Table 7. The direct flow <br />component of the diversions averaged 18.7 acre-feet annually as shown in Table 8. The <br />' average first day of direct flow diversion was June 8 and the average last day was July 18. <br />The storage water diverted by the ditch averaged 213.6 acre-feet annually as shown in Table <br />9. The records do not segregate the diversions into direct flow and storage components for <br />' 1965-70 so the entire diversion was assigned to storage releases for this period. <br />Dry Creek Ditch. The diversions by the Dry Creek Ditch averaged 129.8 acre-feet <br />annually and ranged from none in 1981 to 410.6 acre-feet in 1985 as shown in Table 10. <br />The diversion records include storage releases from Greasewood Flats Reservoir. The <br />' 5 <br />