WSP11224

• File Number: 8149.100
• Description: Miscellaneous Small Projects and Project Studies - NRCS-Ft Lyon Canal Co Limestone Graveyard Creeks
• State: CO
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 2/1/1994
• Author: Gronning Engineering
• Title: Ft Lyon Canal Company Water Transfer Alternatives Study Final Report
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

0212
rights appropriators realized that remaining natural streamflow was generally too variable to supply
irrigation requirements during many years, they constructed reservoirs to capture flood flows. The
estimated 25-year average annual native streamflow is estimated at 524,3431 acre feet (af), measured
at the Arkansas River gage below Pueblo Reservoir. An additional net 172,000 af is imported from
other basins by transmountain diversion projects for use in the Arkansas River VaHey. Total
diversions for Colorado ditches between Pueblo and the Kansas state line are estimated to be
838,000 af (1950-1987 data). Thus, due to diversion and use of return flows, water is used more than
once in the Lower Arkansas Valley before leaving the state.

Ground water levels in the vaHey rose after irrigation began as a result of canal seepage and deep
percolation. Irrigation wells have been drilled in suitable areas and supply about 25 percent of the
irrigated acres. These wells have been subject of litigation for decades.

The Arkansas River of southeastern Colorado is one of the most saline rivers in the United States,
with total dissolved solids (tds) levels exceeding 4,000 ppm between Lamar and the state line. Water
containing more than 2,000 ppm tds is generally considered unsuitable for irrigation, but such water
has been used successfully in the lower Arkansas VaHey for many years. The salinity problem is
discussed by Miles (1977). Most of the salt comes from natural sources in the soil. More
information on water quality of the lower Arkansas River and the study area is presented in Chapter
3.

1.3 Description of Study Area

The FI. Lyon Canal is the largest irrigation company on the Arkansas River, stretching 120 miles and
providing irrigation water to approximately 92,600 acres. The study area covered by this report
includes Kiowa, Crowley, Otero, Bent, and Prowers counties of southeastern Colorado, and is noted
on Figure 1.1. The immediate vicinity of the FI. Lyon system is roughly bounded by Lamar on the
east, La Junta on the south, Eads on the north, and Manzanola on the west, an area of
approximately 2,500 square miles, or 2.4 percent of the state of Colorado. The five counties
represent the economic region which is under direct influence of production and associated spending
distribution of the Ft. Lyon Canal Company system. Most relevant data is available by county. The
five county population was 43,183 in 1990. The area includes about 100 river miles of the Arkansas
River and the principal towns are Lamar, Las Animas, La Junta and Rocky Ford. It is described in
more detail in Chapter 4.

1.4 Concurrent Studies

Three other studies of this area are known to be pending or underway. The U. S. Geological Survey, .
Pueblo Subdistrict (USGS) has conducted extensive research on the Arkansas River of Colorado for

'Calculaled by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as mean native flow (1966-1990) in connection with modeling
studies of the FryingPan-Arkansas Project.

1-3