18 



All measiirinfjj devices are under the control of the engineer at all 

 times, and he has had made standard designs for flumes. These are 

 not rated, however, except upon application of the owners and at their 

 expense. Efforts to reduce this expense are made by endeavoring to 

 get all parties in a section to put flumes in at the same time, so that 

 the expenses of the man making the measurements may be divided 

 among a number of parties. A small charge is made for rating ditches, 

 the fees going into a rating fund which is used in gauging streams. 



The engineer has supervision of all reservoirs. Plans for all 

 dams over 10 feet high must be approved by the engineer before con- 

 struction begins, and he is to act as consulting engineer and require 

 material and work to be satisfactory to him, the owner to pay expenses 

 and $5 per day. He is to determine annually how much each reservoir 

 in the State may store, examine dams to determine their safety when- 

 ever complaint is made by anyone living below them, and determine 

 how much shall be deducted for losses of water by seepage and evapo- 

 ration when stored water is discharged into the natural streams to be 

 diverted below. With the exception of the filing and approval of 

 plans and the examination of dams complained of, the law regarding 

 reservoirs is not generally enforced because of lack of funds. There 

 are hundreds of reservoirs in Colorado, and an annual inspection to 

 determine how much can be safel}^ stored would require a large outlay. 

 The determination of the amounts to be deducted from stored water 

 turned into streams for losses in transit is probably the most urgent of 

 these duties which have been neglected for lack of funds, as this is a 

 matter which produces constant friction between the owners of reser- 

 voirs and others taking water from the streams used as carriers of 

 stored water. It would seem that the expense of making measure- 

 ments for this purpose might very properly be made a charge against 

 the parties owning the reservoir. 



The engineer is required to make estimates of the amount of snow- 

 fall in the mountains during the winter as a basis for estimating the 

 water supply for the following summer. This is done by correspond- 

 ence with parties living in the mountains and by sending a deputy into 

 the mountains whenever practicable. In addition to his duties con- 

 nected with irrigation, the engineer has charge of all internal improve- 

 ments, such as the building of State roads and bridges. 



RECORDS OF THE STATE ENGINEER'S OFFICE. 



In the engineer's office all ditch and reservoir filings are numbered 

 consecutively and filed by the water district in which the site of the 

 proposed works is located. These are then card indexed under three 

 headings — the name of the ditch or reservoir, the name of the stream, 

 and the name of the claimant. 



