The month of May began with continued low levels in the
creek and by the middle of the month creek levels fell to 4 c.f.s. with dry
skies. The drought monitor shows that North of the Arkansas River in Fremont
County is reporting as moderate drought conditions and locations South of the
Arkansas River conditions are Severe drought areas.
Not all is gloom and doom, on Sunday the 24th
Penrose received what amounted to .66 of an inch of precipitation and depending
on where in Penrose you live, up to 3-4 inches of hail. The hail caused damage
to plants and trees, striping leaves from trees and leaving many plants with
bare stems. Due to the weather event, our creek level rose that allowed
significant water to come into our diversion. Unfortunately, that was short
lived, the creek is currently back down to 10 c.f.s. and dropping. Along with
the increase of water, canals plugged up from the tree damage and all the
leaves that fell. Due to the temporary increase in the upper canal, more lines
have been started for irrigation. If the creek falls back down to the levels we
were experiencing at the beginning of the Month, we will need to cut back the
number of lines running and continue as best as we can to provide irrigations.
The weather forecasters are predicting afternoon and evening
showers every day for the balance of the month. Hopefully we can avoid the hail
this time and enjoy the water that Mother Nature provides us.
For those shareholders not familiar with irrigation in
Penrose. Beaver Park Water is limited in the amount of water received into our
system. Water received is ONLY from the South slope of Pikes Peak and comes to
us in the form of snow melt and rain. We do not have an alternate source of
water rights. It is a difficult task to deliver the 3534 shares of water to 545
different shareholders. Scheduling and maintaining water levels in the canals
for deliveries is an ever-changing event. The delivery system has been in place
since the early 1900’s and over the years updated to enhance the process,
however it is not perfect and some of the lines have complications, many issues
are due to the original design of the system was based on 40 acre lots and over
time land has been divided down to 5 acre properties. However, the ditch riders
make every effort to make the irrigations to shareholders as best as possible.
During drought years, it becomes more daunting as water is limited, therefore
the number of lines running are reduced to accommodate the water available.
This reduction, makes shareholders anxious as delivery times are not normal,
they are delayed. All efforts to satisfy shareholders with 1 share to those who
have 80 shares is taken very seriously. Please remember that as hard as it is
to suffer through a drought period, there always are years that we are
plentiful in water and shareholders have had the benefit of 4 irrigations
during the irrigation season.
Pray for rain (not hail) ……
