Water for the DeWeese-Dye Ditch and Reservoir Company comes from the Grape Creek drainage southwest of Canon City. We also store water for our use in DeWeese Reservoir. The diversion on Grape Creek directs the water into our system where it flows about seven miles in open ditch, pipes, tunnels and siphons into three small reservoirs located in Lincoln Park. The main ditch feeds different areas each day and in the evening the water is directed back to the reservoirs and the cycle begins again. People who wonder why we are running water while it is raining don’t realize the water travels 36 miles making it impossible to turn it on and off with the weather.
We are allowed to store water from November 15 to March 15 each year under a Winter Water Storage Agreement. Under this program we can close our headgate and store all of the water coming down Grape Creek from November 15 to March 15. Without this agreement, we could not store unless the call on the river was over 1901. Our shareholders should understand the benefit we receive from the program and recognize without this agreement; there would be winters when we could store very little water.
The Colorado Game and Fish Department bought a 500-acre foot conservation pool which remains in the reservoir at all times. This water is unusable for irrigation because of the mud level.
358 Acre feet of storage space was purchase by Round Mountain Water District to compensate for the water they are removing from the creek through their wells. Their purchased water is stored in the reservoir and is released by the Water Commissioner during the year, making up for the water that Round Mountain does not return to the creek.
Normally, if the Arkansas River call is November 23, 1894 or later we are allowed to take water directly from Grape Creek without using any of our stored water from the reservoir. After Spring runoffs end and there are calls on the river, water is released from the reservoir to help fill our ditch. We can then take about 40% (10.75 cfs) of our water directly from the creek with the direct flow rights we own on Grape Creek and the water we have stored in DeWeese Reservoir supplies the other 60% (15 to16 cfs) to fill our ditch to the 26 cubic feet of water per second (cfs) during the irrigation season. In a normal year you should get water twice a week.
In a dry year when the stream flow drops and will not provide the 10 cfs, we have to increase the amount of water released from the reservoir in order to fill our ditch. Under drought conditions when the creek does not supply the 10 cfs, the Board of Directors has the responsibility to the reduce the water to once a week in order to make the water last as long as possible. When this happens, we implement a one day a week water policy.
Water Conversion Chart:
1 cubic foot = 7.48 gallons
1 acre foot = 43,560 cubic feet
= 325,900 gallons
(An acre foot covers 1 acre of land 1 foot deep)
1 cubic foot per second (cfs) = 450 gallons per minute
1 cfs = 646,320 gallons per day
for 24 hours = 1.983 acre-feet
for 30 days = 59.5 acre-feet
for one year = 724 acre-feet
Main ditch runs
26 cfs
= 15,511,680 gallon per day
= 3,002 semi loads of 5,000 gallons each day
= 51.55 acre feet per day
= 360.0 acre feet per week
= $66,235.00 per day at City bulk water price