Body
Department of Utilities
Reference: Purchase of Zorich Family Water Rights on Turkey Creek
To: Mayor Kenneth J. Kreutzer and Members of City Council
Through: Marv Falconburg, Acting City Manager
Prepared By: Austin Creswell, Water Resources Engineer
Through: Michael Woodruff, Director of Infrastructure
Brad Dallam, Assistant Director of Utilities
Date Prepared: August 29, 2019
PURPOSE
To consider the approval of a contract for the purchase of water rights from the Zorich Family Limited Partnership (Zorich). The water rights are:
1. Spickerman Ditch, 2.3144 cubic feet per second of Priority No. 12, decreed by the District Court of the Second Judicial District for Arapahoe County in Case No. 6832 on February 4, 1884, with an appropriation date of November 1, 1862, located in the NW 1/4 of Section 7, Township 5 South, Range 69 West, 6th P.M., Jefferson County, Colorado, and the source of the water is Turkey Creek, as changed and quantified in Case No. 82CW473 ("82CW473 Decree").
2. Middle Spickerman Ditch, 2.907 cubic feet per second of Priority No. 22, decreed by the District Court of the Second Judicial District for Arapahoe County in Case No. 6832 on February 4, 1884, with an appropriation date of November 1, 1862, located in the NW 1/4 of Section 7, Township 5 South, Range 69 West, 6th P.M., Jefferson County, and the source of the water is Turkey Creek, as changed and quantified in the 82CW473 Decree.
The average yields for these shares in the Spickerman and Middle Spickerman ditches are 18.21 and 9.45 acre-feet, respectively, for a total average yield of 27.66 acre-feet.
BACKGROUND
These water rights are on Turkey Creek in Jefferson County. Brighton previously purchased other Turkey Creek and nearby Bear Creek rights in 2018, including Spickerman Ditch rights. These water rights previously purchased were collectively referred to as the Mt. Carbon Water Rights, since the Mt. Carbon Metro District was a previous owner. The City examined the ...
Click here for full text