Cannon Land Company and Cannon Water, LLP Fort Lupton, Colorado Deere & Ault Consultants, Inc. developed an augmentation plan
using direct flow and storage water rights decreed for irrigation use as
offsets for depletions arising from well pumping to supply a nearby power
plant.
Water measurement structure at the Cannon recharge pond.
Cannon's historical use of two ditches and two reservoirs was evaluated, protective
terms & conditions were proposed to prevent injury to other water rights in the South
Platte river basin, and a detailed operations plan was developed.
Deere & Ault engineers gave expert witness testimony at trial in Water Court
to change Cannon's water rights to augmentation use. The operations plan and infrastructure
modifications prepared by Deere & Ault allow delivery of ditch water directly to the
South Platte River, delivery of ditch water to recharge facilities for lagged accrual to the
river, and releases of previously stored reservoir water to provide sufficient replacement
credits to replace out-of-priority well depletions.
This plan was tailored specifically for Cannon to allow ongoing irrigation of portion s of
the farm while meeting the augmentation obligations generated by the power plant.
Deere & Ault applied advanced analytical methods to maximize the beneficial use
of Cannon's water assets.
