Rio Grande - Rio Grande Basin CREP_Application & Scope of Work

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Water Supply Reserve Account - Grant Application Form Form Revised October 2006 3. Please provide an overview of water project or activity to be funded including - type of activity, statement of what the activity is intended to accomplish, the need for the activity, the problems and opportunities to be addressed, expectations of the participants, why the activity is important, the service area or geographic location, and any relevant issues etc. Please include any relevant Tabor issues. Please refer to Part 2 of criteria and guidance document for additional detail on information to include. Attach additional sheets as needed. See B-3 below. B-3 The Rio Grande Basin is comprised of all or portions of Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, and Saguache counties. The total human population is approximately 50,000, with the majority of people inhabiting Conejos, Rio Grande and Alamosa counties. Monte Vista, Alamosa, Saguache, Del Norte, and San Luis are a few of the larger municipalities in the basin. The Rio Grande Watershed in Colorado drains 8,000 square miles in south-central Colorado. The central and northern portion of the San Luis Valley contains an internal drainage without surface flow to the Rio Grande referred to as the "Closed Basin." The Closed Basin encompasses approximately two-thirds or 2,700 square miles of the San Luis Valley. Irrigated agriculture is the largest water user in the basin, consuming an estimated 2 million acre-feet annually and using over 85 percent of all water consumed. Approximately 1,500 farms have over 600,000 acres under irrigation in the San Luis Valley. Major crops in the Valley, according to the Colorado Agricultural Statistics (2002) are winter and spring wheat (8%), barley (17%), oats (3%), alfalfa (49%), and potatoes (23%). Net cash return from all agricultural sales was estimated at over $50 million in 1997. The Rio Grande's largest tributary is the Conejos River, located in the southern part of the Basin. Major tributaries within the Closed Basin include La Garita, Carnero, and Saguache Creel(s. There are 14 storage projects within Colorado's Rio Grande drainage storing approximately 350,000 acre feet of water under normal storage conditions. The groundwater system of the San Luis Valley is a complex aquifer system containing a deeper confined aquifer separated from the shallower unconfined aquifer by a series of clay layers, sometimes referred to as the blue clay layer. Irrigation in the San Luis Valley is heavily dependent on conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water. The major portion of irrigation water is derived from managed recharge and pumping from unconfined-aquifer wells. The Colorado Wildlife Commission listed the Rio Grande sucl(er as endangered and the Colorado Division of Wildlife has developed a recovery plan for the species within the San Luis 5