The Company’s irrigation water is delivered to four different lateral ditches via the main canal. In most cases, your water will come to you through only one of these laterals: the Fender, the Grange, the Middle Ditch, or the Highline. Each lateral has a “Ditch Captain”. That is who you will contact to call for your water. The Ditch Captain coordinates between the shareholders on the lateral and the Ditchwalker to arrange for delivery of water. Delivery of water must start on a Monday, and must be called for prior to 7 p.m. on the preceding Friday. If you do not know your lateral or its Ditch Captain, send an email through the “Contact Us” link and we will forward your contact information to your Ditch Captain, who will contact you.
Shareholders with fewer than 500 “A” shares or 380 “B” shares must draw with other shareholders on their lateral to ensure a minimum of 2 c.f.s. of water is being called for at a time. This makes delivery more efficient.
Tony Gross, the Ditchwalker, is responsible for operating all the headgates on the system in order to deliver the right amount of water to shareholders for the right amount of time. When Tony is busy, the ditch captains on the various laterals and board members may step in and help him out. No one else, shareholder or otherwise, is authorized to adjust any of the headgates or otherwise modify any part of the system.
The number of days “A” shareholders are entitled to draw their water is limited by the amount of flow in Cattle Creek, which is determined by soil moisture in the fall, the depth of snowpack, and temperature fluctuations during the spring run-off season. Class “A” water is available to shareholders in proportion to their ownership of this water right until the Colorado Water District 5 Engineer calls this right out of priority. In a “normal” year, the company might deliver water to “A” shareholders from early May through mid-June. The Mountain Meadow right which supplies “A” water allows the company to divert 13 c.f.s out of Cattle Creek. Between the measuring flume at Cattle Creek and the point where you take your water, there are miles of unlined ditch where water seeps, evaporates or is sucked up by vegetation, so the net delivery of water to all “A” shareholders will often be less than 13 c.f.s. unless there is enough water in Cattle Creek to make up the difference.
The Board sets the number of days draw each year for “B” shareholders, depending on climate conditions and the level of the reservoir in May. Shareholders may draw more of their water for fewer days (or less water for more days) as long as the total adds up to the annual allowance set by the board. When the Company was formed in 1999, a draw of 16 days was normal for a full reservoir. Since then, the Company has lined the main canal and piped the rest of the way to the Middle Ditch and Highline delivery points. The increased efficiency has allowed for up to 20 days draw when the reservoir has filled. Hot, dry, windy weather during the summer months causes considerable losses from evaporation, evapotranspiration by plants, and seepage. The Board cannot foresee late summer conditions when setting the number of days draw in May, so there is a risk involved if you try to use your water late in the season as it may have evaporated. Also, when the reservoir level drops, there is less pressure on the headgate, making it more difficult to maintain consistent delivery to those shareholders irrigating late in the season. So, if you do choose to call for your water later, be prepared for more variable flows. The Ditchwalker will make every reasonable effort to make sure that all shareholders receive their allotment.
OPERATING RULES AND REGULATIONS APPLYING TO CLASS “A” AND CLASS “B” STOCK
General Provision
I. Water users who are individually or collectively entitled to no more than 100 gallons of water per minute may be required to purchase and install a flow meter or such other device approved by the Board which is capable of accurately measuring and, in the discretion of the Board, or recording the amount of water delivered to the user(s). Moreover, such users may be subject to special assessments, in accordance with the Corporation’s Bylaws, to compensate for the Corporation’s expenses to administer the water delivery and/or use.
It is the shareholder’s responsibility to purchase and install the described small delivery device or other measuring device, as applicable. It is also the shareholder’s responsibility to clean and maintain that device so that accurate flows through a metering system caimot exceed the call placed to the Corporation for the user’s water that week, adjusted for seepage and evaporative losses in the delivery ditch. If a shareholder fails to receive his/her allocated amount of water as a result of a faulty metering and/or other measuring system, that shareholder shall be solely responsible, and the Corporation shall have no liability, for that loss.
II. If any water user of the system shall violate the above provision, or cut the bank of any ditch or lateral serving anyone other than himself, he shall be deprived of the right to draw water from said system for a period of 30 days.
III. The ditchwalker shall have all headgates on the ditch inspected and repaired before water is turned into the ditch for the season.
IV. When shares are leased for the irrigation season, the owner of the stock shall give a written order to the Corporation designating the amount of water and the name of the party to whom leased.
V. Any disagreement arising between the ditchwalker and any employee of the Company or between the ditchwalker and any water consumer upon any matter not provided for by these rules or the bylaws of the Company may be decided by any Company Director, whose decision in such matters shall be binding subject, however, to an appeal at a formal meeting of the Board of Directors.
VI. No flume, bridge, or other structure shall be constructed across, over, or imder the ditch right-of-way of the Company, except on written permission of the Board of Directors under supervision of the ditchwalker.
VII. No check, wheel, dam or other obstruction shall be allowed in the ditch, except on the order of the Board of Directors.
VIII. During the irrigation season no water will be turned on any day except on Monday. Anyone wishing to start drawing on any Monday shall have contacted their Ditch Captain by 7:00 p.m. on the proceeding Friday. No stockholder shall place any more than 3 calls on his water in any one year on any lateral.
IX. No request for delivery of any water by any “A” or “B” class shareholder need to be filled unless a total amount of water flowing through the delivery point with respect to said request, including the amount allowed pursuant to that request, shall exceed the amount of water allowed by virtue of the ownership of at least 500 shares of Class “A” stock or 380 shares of Class “B” stock or a combination of Class “A” and Class “B” stock that would entitle the shareholder to receive more than 2 c.f s. of water from the Company irrigation system. Shareholders with less than the above required shares will need to coordinate their water calls with other stockholders so they can qualify to receive water under this rule. The rule is designed to make the most efficient use of water and minimize losses to evaporation and ditch seepage. Once a request for delivery is made, the shareholder who initiated the request is obligated to ensure the water is used in a manner directed by these Rules and the Articles of Consolidation and Bylaws of the Company. Once a request for delivery is initiated, such request cannot be modified or changed unless necessary to prevent property damage or prevent liability to the Company or Company property.
X. This provision, effective January 1, 2002, applies where more than one shareholder receives delivery of water from one point on the ditch system as a result of the division of ownership of historically irrigated land and associated Corporate shares into separate ownership. Under these circumstances, as a condition of receiving water, the affected shareholders shall be responsible for creating an owners’ association or other legal entity or arrangement which is acceptable to the Corporation and authorized by all such shareholders to represent them in the diversion of water from the ditch system and in delivery, distribution, measurement, and accounting of the water amongst themselves according to their individual interests.
XI. Class “A” Stock Class
“A” draws its water from the original Mountain Meadow 13 c.f s. water right diverted out of Cattle Creek.
Subject to ice and snow, necessary ditch cleanup, and repairs after the winter season, the Mountain Meadow – Class “A” water will be available to those shareholders in proportion to their ownership of this water right. This right will then be available until the Colorado Water District 5 Engineer calls this water right out of priority.
Stockholders must call the Company ditch captain for delivery of water.
500 Class “A” shares = 2 c.f s. (minimum draw)
XII Class “B” Stock
Class “B” stock direct flow right, i.e., early water right from Cattle Creek, will vary from year to year for the stockholders. This is dependent upon how successful the winter fill of the reservoir is and how long this water is available from Cattle Creek for our use.
A 16 day draw of water out of the reservoir is established as an average water year. The amount of water and the number of draw days available to the stockholders will vary from the 16 days in an average irrigation year, depending on the amount of water in the reservoir at the beginning of the season. The Board of Directors will set the number of draw days at the beginning of the irrigation season and advise stockholders how many days they will receive when they make their first call of the season for water. Should conditions cause more or less water to be available; stockholders will be advised of this change.
380 shares are equal to two cubic second foot of water, which is the minimum call for water on any ditch. However, stockholders with less than 380 shares can join other stockholders to make up a draw of 380 or more shares in their ditch. A second option for smaller stockholders would be to consolidate their draw for fewer days. Example: 190 shares, to make 380, will cut their draw days in half.
380 Class “B” shares = 2 c.f s. (minimum draw)
XIII. All assignments of shares in the Company by a shareholder shall be undertaken by utilizing the form attached to these Rules as Exhibit A.
XIV. These rules and regulations have been adopted by the Board of Directors of the Corporation as authorized by Article VIII.C.4 and XVI.E of the Bylaws. All regulations will be strictly enforced by the Board of Directors.
CERTIFICATE
I, the Secretary of the MISSOURI HEIGHTS-MOUNTAIN MEADOW IRRIGATION COMPANY, do hereby certify that the above and foregoing is a true, correct and complete copy of the 2024 Rules and Regulations of said Corporation and approved and adopted by the Board of Directors by a vote of 5 in favor at a meeting held at Carbondale, Colorado on the 7th day of February, 2024.
Secretary
Andrea Traul
The two water rights that supply MH-MMIC with irrigation water are dependent on the timing and volume of spring run-off in Cattle Creek. If the spring flood arrives at least a couple of weeks before other ditches start drawing their more senior water rights, the reservoir is likely to fill. If there is high enough volume of flow in Cattle Creek in May and June, “A” shares will be able to draw their full 13 c.f.s.
But the factors that influence spring run-off (snowpack, soil moisture & temperature fluctuations) are becoming more variable as the climate warms. Abundant winter snowpack is less certain in the changing climate, as is good soil moisture in the fall, which depends on the summer monsoon. There is no such thing as a “normal” water year anymore. As the climate changes, the amount of water the Company can deliver to shareholders is becoming less predictable and more variable from year to year.