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<br />Water Supply Reserve Account - Grant and Loan Program <br />Water Activity Summary Sheet <br /> <br />Applicant: <br /> <br />Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation <br /> <br />Water Activity Name: Rio Grande Conservation <br />Enhancement Program - Preparation of Grant and <br />Application <br /> <br />Water Activity Purpose: <br /> <br />Non-structural water activity <br /> <br />County: <br /> <br />Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, and Saguache counties <br /> <br />Amount Requested: $36,750 <br />Source of Funds: Basin Account <br /> <br />Matching Funds: None <br /> <br />Drainage Basin: <br /> <br />Rio Grande <br /> <br />Water Source: <br /> <br />Groundwater management strategy <br /> <br />Water Activity Summary: <br /> <br />The Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation is an outgrowth of the Rio Grande Headwaters <br />Restoration Project, which originated in 1999 to review the function of a 91-mile reach of the Rio Grande <br />most impacted by human intervention. The study made recommendations to improve the river's natural <br />functions, while meeting the obligations of the Rio Grande Compact. <br /> <br />The Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation is a Colorado Nonprofit Corporation, <br /># 20041324471. In January 2005, the Foundation received its IRS 501 (c) 3 status as a public foundation, <br />with EIN # 75-3169057. The Foundation is exempt from Federal income tax. <br /> <br />The Rio Grande Basin is comprised of all or portions of Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio <br />Grande, and Saguache counties. The total human population is approximately 50,000, with the majority of <br />people inhabiting Conejos, Rio Grande and Alamosa counties. Monte Vista, Alamosa, Saguache, Del Norte, <br />and San Luis are a few of the larger municipalities in the basin. <br /> <br />The Rio Grande's largest tributary is the Conejos River, located in the southern part of the Basin. Major <br />tributaries within the Closed Basin include La Garita, Carnero, and Saguache Creel(s. There are 14 storage <br />projects within Colorado's Rio Grande drainage storing approximately 350,000 acre feet of water under <br />normal storage conditions. The groundwater system of the San Luis Valley is a complex aquifer system <br />containing a deeper confined aquifer separated from the shallower unconfined aquifer by a series of clay <br />layers, sometimes referred to as the blue clay layer. Irrigation in the San Luis Valley is heavily dependent on <br />conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water. The major portion of irrigation water is derived from <br />managed recharge and pumping from unconfined-aquifer wells. <br /> <br />The Colorado Wildlife Commission listed the Rio Grande sucl(er as endangered and the Colorado Division <br />of Wildlife has developed a recovery plan for the species within the San Luis Valley. The lacl( of perennial <br />river flows, diversion structures, and water quality has restricted recovery efforts in the San Luis Valley. <br /> <br />1 <br />