Rio Grande - Santa Maria & Continental Reservoirs: Rehabilitation & Multi Use Studies_Application

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Water Supply Reserve Account - Grant Application Form Fonn Revised May 2007 Meeting Water Management Goals and Objectives and Identified Water Needs I. The water activity helps complete a needs assessment, including consumptive and/or non- consumptive needs, that Nvas not fully funded from other sources. This water activity helps complete a systemic needs assessment, going beyond prior studies which did not adequately address non-consumptive needs. SMR's approach now is not simply to overcome the operation-and-maintenance problems caused by seeps, leaks, and spillway, deterioration, but to look widely and creatively at all existing and potential assets, and to develop a multi-use inventory, gfsystems which will benefit./rom the stability and sustainability of these structures. In this sturdy many mutual benefits are obtained by meeting the consumptive water management goals traditionally expected ofan irrigation company as well as the nonconsumptive water management goals of the C'DOW, recognizing that consumptive and non-consumptive uses apply to both entities. Previous needs assessments and monitoring were conducted 1993 by-Hydro-Triad, Ltd.. This was followed by a 1994 contract with Hama Northwest, Inc. for a geotechnical engineering study completed in March, 1995. A storage curtailment was placed by the State Dam Inspectors in 1996 and this continues until the present time. None of these studies adequately addressed the inventorying of multi-use assets. SMR now requires SB 179 funds to bring current studies which were only partially done, and painfully paid for, thirteen and fifteen years ago. These studies are available but are not included in this proposal as they are not deemed relevant. j. The water activity meets one or more of the water management objectives identified in the Statewide Water Supply Initiative, helps implement projects and processes identified as helping meet Colorado's future water needs, and/or addresses the gap areas between available water supply and future need as identified in the Statewide Water Supply Initiative or a roundtable's basin-wide water needs assessment done in accordance with the Colorado Water for the 2 l" Centui v Act. The Rio Grande Basin Roundtable has determined that the single most critical water issue confronting the Basin is the current unsustainable management ofsurface and ground water. This project conducts the studies necessary to optimize, and to make sustainable, existing and fixture water supplies in the Santa Maria, the C'ontinental Reservoir, and in the conveyance system between them. Continental Reservoir has been used primarily to store irrigation water for agricultural producers in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Continental Reservoir also stores CDOW water, Rio Grande Compact water, and ,San Luis Valley Water Conservancy District water, in addition to storage for other entities as needed. Continental's multiple uses include irrigation, flood control, spectacular high altitude recreational fishing and boating, and wildlife habitat. CROW is using the Rio Grande Reservoir to assist in reaching its water use goals and objectives. Through this profectSMR will further assist the CDOW in achieving these goals. The C'DOW has water rights to 3 Transmountain diversions. By, mutual agreement, the CDOW will be able to store enough water in Santa Maria to allow for an effective and well-thought-out plan for the most beneficial use to wildlife, increasing habitat in critical winter range lands. This will allow for a productive fishery; sustained and increased riparian habitat; irrigation of lands for 11