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1~ <br />'' <br />1• <br /> <br />14 <br />WECC WATER RIGhTS <br />Table 4 presents a summary of the water rights controlled by WECC with <br />references to the property with which these rights are associated. WECC <br />holds the rights to approxirtiateiy 15 cfs of direct diversions and 132 AF of <br />storage. It is estimated that the average headgate yield of these rights is <br />approximately 2300 AF in an irrigation season. <br />WECC proposes to change these water rights to allow their use in the <br />augmentation plan. In so doing, WECC must prevent injury to other vested <br />water riyhts. Therefore, not all of the water rights owned by WECC can be <br />used for augmentation purposes. For example, WECC controls about 25 percent <br />of the Turner Ditch water. If WECC were to take 25 percent of the water out <br />of the Ditch for this augmentation plan, the other users rrould be injured <br />because the remaining users would bear an increased burden of seepage and <br />transit losses. To avoid this injury WECC should dedicate a portion of its <br />water to remain in the ditch to continue to pay for transit losses. Since <br />the total transit loss of the system is unlikely to drop significantly, WECC <br />should also leave 2U percent of its water in the Lane, Clough, and Sweezy <br />Turner ditches for ditch losses. A higher ficure, 30 percent, has been <br />established as WECC's requirement to the Lone Cabin Ditch for such ditch <br />losses. This number is based on that ditch's unusually hioh transit losses. <br />Some of WECC's water has historically been usea on lands outside of the <br />Minnesota Creek basin. The return flow from these diversions were available <br />to water users in German and keynolds creeks. For these WECC rights, <br />essentually transbasin diversion, WECC should continue to deliver the <br />historical return flows to Gernian and Reynolds creeks at a rate of 20 <br />percent of the historical headgate diversions. This 20 percent contributing <br />loss compensation applies only to Turner and Lone Cabin water. <br />Table 4 presents the credit that WECC can receive as "headgate bypass" water <br />for each of its water rights. For example, WECC owns 1.077 cfs of Turner <br />water (Priority 1 & 2). Twenty percent is left in in the Ditch for ditch <br />carriage losses and 20 percent is left in to be delivered to German Creek. <br />This leaves a credit of 60 percent of the water, 0.6462 cfs, that can be <br />bypassed at the headgate to augment Minnesota Creek. <br />