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Basalt Water Conservancy District
Area Map |
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Map Legend |
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Locations where the volume of water flowing in the stream is measured automatically. Click on the symbol in the map above to get current conditions! |
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Official boundary of the District, within which taxes are assessed to fund its operations. |
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Areas to the east and south of the green line indicate the region in which the District offers water allotment contracts |
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See description below. |
Area A / Area B
The District and the State Engineer have defined two types of water service areas, denoted "Area A" and "Area B". Area A represents that portion of the District that is directly tributary to the Roaring Fork and Fryingpan Rivers or has no history of local water right calls. Area B represents tributaries within the District that are heavily appropriated and subject to occasional water right calls originating between the water user and the Roaring Fork or Fryingpan Rivers. Cattle Creek and Blue Creek are examples of Area B regions within the District.
The distinction between the two areas is important with respect to District water right applications. Water users within designated Area A have very few or no intervening water rights between them and the mainstem Roaring Fork and Fryingpan Rivers, and can use the District's rights for augmentation year-round. Storage water is released or historic use credits are applied to offset the contractees' depletions. In contrast, water users in Area B may need to obtain additional senior water rights in the local basin to protect their depletions from "internal" water right calls. For example, while a release of water from Ruedi Reservoir helps to augment flows in the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers, it cannot physically improve the flows in Cattle Creek. Therefore, if senior water rights in lower Cattle Creek place a call on the river, upstream junior diverters in the Cattle Creek basin may have to obtain additional senior rights and develop a water right Plan for Augmentation to prevent injury to the senior rights.