Fryingpan-Arkansas Project
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The Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, or "Fry-Ark," is a water diversion, storage and delivery project serving southeastern Colorado. The project was authorized in 1962 by President Kennedy, began construction that same year, and was completed in 1981. It includes five dams and reservoirs, one federal hydro-electric power plant (and a handful of private, FERC regulated plants), 8 tunnels, and 12 conduits. The Bureau of Reclamation, under the Department of the Interior built and manages the project.
Like its sister project, the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, the Fry-Ark brings available water from Colorado's West Slope to the more arid, and more heavily populated, East Slope. Colorado Springs, Pueblo, La Junta, Lamar, and other municipalities in southeastern Colorado, all benefit from the supplemental water the project provides. The project diverts and delivers an average of 52,000 acre feet (64,000,000 m³) of water a year. However, the water right on the Fry-Ark allows for a diversion of 2,352,800 acre feet (2.9 km³) over the course of 34 consecutive years, but not to exceed a diversion of 120,000 acre feet (148,000,000 m³) in any one single year.
Water is diverted from the West Slope's Fryingpan River basin. A series of interconnected tunnels and small diversion dams, all at an elevation of above 10,000 feet (3,000 m), collect snowmelt and run it, via gravity, to the Charles H. Boustead Tunnel. The Boustead runs water underneath the Continental Divide 5.5 miles (9 km) before discharging it it into Turquoise Reservoir just west of Leadville, CO. Water then leaves Turquoise Reservoir via the Mt. Elbert Conduit, which runs nearly 11 miles (18 km) to the Mt. Elbert Forebay. Water is stored in the Forebay to build up "head" or energy before being dropped down over half a mile (1 km) in elevation to the hydro-electric Mt. Elbert Power Plant.
The power plant takes its name from Mt. Elbert, Colorado's tallest peak, and sits at its feet. The two-unit facility is the largest federally owned and operated hydro-electrical power plant in the state of Colorado. It has a nameplate capacity of 200 megawatts and a maximum generating head of 477 feet (145 m). During night time hours, when power rates are less expensive, the reversible pump-back units take water from Twin Lakes--water already used at least once by the units to generate electricity--back up to the Forebay so it can be dropped down again for even more power generation. The Western Area Power Administration markets the power generated at the plant.
Water exiting the Mt. Elbert Power Plant helps fill Twin Lakes Reservoir, a natural lake bed enlarged and impounded by Twin Lakes Dam from 1978-1980. The reservoir sits on Lake Creek which runs down from Independence Pass--the gateway to Aspen, CO. Water from the reservoir continues down Lake Creek to the Arkansas River, which is the main delivery vehicle for the Fry-Ark project.
Pueblo Reservoir is the last reservoir in the project and sits on the Arkansas just west of Pueblo, CO. The majority of municipal and agricultural deliveries for the project are made out of Pueblo Reservoir before the water continues on east to Kansas via the Arkansas.
The Fry-Ark provides supplemental water to 280,600 irrigable acres in southeastern Colorado a year. In its authorization, the multi-purpose project is also specified to serve municipal, industrial, hydro-electric power generation, recreation, fish and wildlife interests, as well.
