The following information is provided regarding the services offered by the West Divide Water Conservancy District (West Divide). West Divide’s district boundaries generally extend from DeBeque to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and from Glenwood Springs to Carbondale, Colorado. Within the district boundaries, along the Roaring Fork River between Carbondale and Glenwood Springs, and along the Colorado River between Glenwood Springs and DeBeque, lies West Divide’s Area A Service Area. In addition to West Divide’s original Area A Service Area, West Divide has continued to develop regional augmentation plans and can also provide water augmentation services on Fourmile Creek, Rifle Creek, Elk Creek, Silt Mesa and portions of East Divide Creek.
Within these primary service areas, West Divide issues water supply contracts to off-set depletions associated with water diversions from various structures including wells, pumps, reservoirs, etc. West Divide has several decreed augmentation plans which augment depletions from both existing and potential future water structures.
If you are an attorney or an engineer with clients who need augmentation water within one of West Divide’s service areas, you or your client may simply submit a water application to West Divide requesting the amount of water needed. West Divide’s staff uses engineering assumptions approved by the State Engineer’s Office to determine how much water would be required by a specific customer. This means your clients would not be required to complete their own engineering report prior to requesting the West Divide contract. In typical cases, West Divide can provide this service for your clients.
Upon approval of a water contract application by the West Divide Board of Directors, the structure or structures referenced in the application are typically immediately augmented pursuant to one of West Divide’s augmentation plans. In addition, upon receiving a West Divide water allotment contract, a client can typically apply for a well permit from the State Engineer’s Office, and be granted the permit in due course. In many situations, obtaining a West Divide water allotment contract is significantly less expensive and time consuming than obtaining an individual plan for augmentation.