Arkansas - LAVWCD - Super Ditc_Application_July2008

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Alternative Agricultural Water Transfer Methods -Grant Application Farm aao~a~y zoos treatment alternatives and recommendations. Task D -Application of the Arkansas River GedDSS to Evaluating Water Quality and Water Conservation Improvements from the Super Ditch Cooperative There is reason to believe that a water lease program under the Super Ditch Company not only could be operated without harmful side effects, but that the irrigated stream-aquifer system may in fact be enhanced lay such a program. Careful examination of the possible impacts of the Company, and discovery of the best lease-fallowing combinations, will require a reliable data-centered model of the Lower Arkansas River system. !t is proposed that the Arkansas River Geo-referenced Decision Support System (GeoDSS) developed at Colorado State University be applied as a tool for helping answer these and other important questions. The Arkansas River GeoDSS is a Gl5-based spatial decision support system for predicting river basin-scale impacts of alternatives for managing the irrigated stream-aquifer system of the lower Valley. The GeoDSS has been under development over the last several years, being calibrated and supported by a database derived from an extensive field data measurement program'. The GeoDSS includes accurate water quantity and quality modeling of the surface water distribution system and stream--aquifer interaction, as well as incorporation of water rights, the Colorado-Kansas interstate compact, and ownership of shares in trans-basin diversion water. Recent significant improvements in the GeoDSS have set the stage for its use in investigating impacts of alternative water management strategies on the irrigated stream-aquifer system of the Lower Arkansas River Valley in Colorado2. CSU proposes to collaborate closely with the Lower District and their consultants to enhance and apply the GeoDSS model, and related regional-scale models, to specifically perform the following subtasks regarding implementation of the land fallowing and leasing program through the Super Ditch Cooperative: Subtask D~1. Water Supply Reliability: Provide assistance and support to members of the project team with primary responsibility for this task in assessing the reliability of providing firm annual water supply to potential customers of the Super Ditch under a variety of hydrologic regimes and lease-fallowing scenarios, including consideration of exchange potential and transfer of direct flow rights into storage rights for providing year-round flows to urban areas from primarily seasonal agricultural water rights. The GeoDSS will be applied to assist in providing consideration of the differing water right priority dates, storage capabilities, consumptive use designations, and losses of the participating ditches. " Gates, T., L. Garcia, and J. Labadie, "Toward Optimal Water Management in Colorado's Lower Arkansas River Valley: Monitoring and Modeling to Enhance Agriculture and Environment," Completion Report No. 205, Colorado Water Reso-~rces Institute and Galorado Agricultural Experiment Station, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO (June 2006). z Triana, E., "A Spatial Decision Support System for Assessing Basin-Scale Improved Management of Water Quantity and Quality in Stream-Aquifer Systems." PhD Dissertation, Department of Civil and Enviromnental Engineering, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO {2008). 26