Repository logo
 

Transbasin water transfer: Dolores River, southwestern Colorado

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorPorter, John, author
dc.contributor.authorU.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
dc.date.accessioned2020-05-15T13:27:03Z
dc.date.available2020-05-15T13:27:03Z
dc.date.issued2001-06
dc.descriptionPresented at the 2001 USCID water management conference, Transbasin water transfers on June 27-30, 2001 in Denver, Colorado.
dc.description.abstractTransbasin diversions historically have facilitated settlement of the West, an inhospitable land without the development of water. Given that water is a finite resource, new competing environmental/recreational demands set the stage for increased motivation for efficient water management, controversy and finally litigation. Regarding the Dolores River, two diversions, primarily for agriculture, began with private development in 1886. Within a short period of time, the River below the point of the two diversion was a dry - dead river during the annual irrigation season. One of the components of the Bureau of Reclamation's Dolores Project, which was constructed, beginning in 1979 and completed in 1999, was to re-water the river during irrigation season. The second largest user of the new McPhee Reservoir, an on-stream impoundment facility, is the water (33,200 acre feet) released to resurrect the river below McPhee to create habitat for a quality fishery. A controversy erupted during the five year drought of 1988-1992. It focused on the pattern of the release. It was determined that management of a "pool" of water, where less water would be released during the cold winter months and greater flows during the hot summer months would be advantageous. It took five years to agree, and implement that change. The controversy now focuses on the fact that the "pool" is not big enough. Last fall the Dolores Water Conservancy District finished a feasibility study, with CWCB funding, of a project called WETPACK (Water for Everyone Tomorrow PACKage). WETPACK's purpose is two fold. First, it explored ways to obtain / develop more water for the fishery. Second, it moves water, that Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company is not presently using, to the Dove Creek area of the Dolores Project to develop 4,000 acres of added irrigation. The District recently obtained a loan from CWCB to begin the agriculture portion of WET PACK.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediumproceedings (reports)
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/206863
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartofIrrigation Management
dc.relation.ispartofTransbasin water transfers, Denver, Colorado, June 27-30, 2001
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.sourceContained in: Transbasin water transfers, Denver, Colorado, June 27-30, 2001, http://hdl.handle.net/10217/46354
dc.titleTransbasin water transfer: Dolores River, southwestern Colorado
dc.title.alternativeTransbasin water transfers
dc.typeText

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
105_2001-USCID-Denver_Porter.pdf
Size:
271.2 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Irrigation Management