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 Valley. The lacl( of perennial river flows, diversion structures, and water quality has restricted recovery efforts in the San Luis Valley. Similarly, the Southwest Willow Flycatcher is a federally listed endangered species that thrives in the riparian willow habitat along the Rio Grande. Currently, the Rio Grande Water Conservation District is developing a Regional Habitat Conservation Plan to protect habitat in Colorado for this endangered species and to protect routine agricultural activities. The water levels of the aquifer system within the Closed Basin area of the central and northern San Luis Valley are currently declining which is negatively impacting surface flows, and increasing operating and pumping costs for agricultural producers. Several local conservation districts, water conservation districts, agricultural producers have set ambitious goals to reduce consumptive use throughout Colorado's Rio Grande Watershed by 200,000 acre-feet of water per year to address water shortages in both the confined and unconfined aquifers within the Valley. Engineering worl( completed by Allen Davey of Davis Engineering Service, Inc., in Alamosa, Colorado suggests that only a dramatic decrease in consumptive use will allow the aquifer system to restore itself and become sustainable. The unsustainable use of water in the San Luis Valley, affecting the aquifer, the local economy, wetlands, and hydrological conditions calls for immediate and targeted actions to reverse the trend. Without the voluntary participation by water users in a program supporting fallowing of land and decreased groundwater use, the decline in the aquifer system will continue and the State Engineer will be forced to undertal(e widespread well regulation. Residents of the San Luis Valley hope to avoid the l(ind of well regulation that the State has undertal(en on the South Platte River. Colorado law requires that "use of the confined and unconfined aquifers shall be regulated so as to maintain a sustainable water supply in each aquifer system." C.R.S. S 37-92-501(4)(a). Residents of the San Luis Valley recognize the dramatic decline in the aquifer system and hope, by the use of groundwater management subdistricts, to generate financial incentives for voluntary curtailment of groundwater use. The Rio Grande Water Conservation District enabling legislation permits the creation of subdistricts to create and manage physical water projects or plans for augmentation or plans of water management. A subdistrict, with an approved plan of water management that specifically seel(s to reduce groundwater use while protecting surface water rights is advantageous for San Luis Valley residents because Colorado law prohibits the state engineer from regulating groundwater withdrawals in Division 3 if the withdrawals are made pursuant to a subdistrict's approved groundwater management plan. C.R.S. S 37-92-501(4)(c). The Board of Directors of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District supported the formation of Special Improvement District No.1 of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District ("Subdistrict No.1") and the district court in Alamosa approved its creation in July of 2006. Subdistrict No.1 consists of approximately 198,000 irrigated acres located in the San Luis Valley generally north of the Rio Grande, west of a line extending north of the City of Alamosa and extending into the southerly six to ten miles of Saguache County. County records submitted to the 6