From the Delta County Independent (Hank Lohmeyer):
he weeks, now going on months of massive earth moving work by excavators from Beavers Construction of Hotchkiss, achieved a milestone last Thursday when enough material was removed from the tunnel under Cory Bench to allow a four-foot-diameter pipeline to lay on a better grade and increase flow.
Lynn French, irrigation company representative, told the DCI that the excavators were able to lower the pipe about one foot or more. “That was enough to approximately double the water flowing through,” French said, from an estimated 8 cfs to 14 or possibly 15 cfs. “That’s quite an improvement,” he added. Flow volumes are estimates because the water is not measured on the North Delta system in that area, French explained.
The North Delta Irrigation Company has 49-plus cfs that can be taken from its diversion on the Gunnison River near 2100 Road. French explained that future improvements planned for the system will pipe its entire course from 2100 Road to the tunnel section. That will create additional flow head to move greater volume through the pipeline which runs on a virtual flat line grade through the tunnel section.