Laserfiche WebLink
Water Supply Reserve Account - Grant Application Form <br />Form Revised May 2007 <br />Subcommittee, and with funds from the SB 179 Water Supply Reserve Account, MLI will implement this <br />Project as soon as possible. <br />Service Area - Geography, Culture, & History:: The Project is located in Section 17 of T33N, R9E, as <br />shown on the Antonio, Colorado USGS quadrangle maps, approximately 1000' upstream from the <br />Colorado Hivv 285 Conejos River Bridge and 1'/4 miles north of the town limits of Antonio, Colorado. <br />Accessibility to the site is through the right-of-way access road off Colorado Hwy 285 on the north side of <br />the Cone jos River that centers the northeast side of project. The Conejos River is a tributary of the Rio <br />Grande, approximately 60 miles long, in south central Colorado. It drains a scenic area of the eastern San <br />Juan Mountains on the western rim of the San Luis Vallev. The Cone jos rises from snow-melt along the <br />east side of the Continental Divide west of Conejos Peale in western Cone jos County, approximately 15 <br />miles northeast of Pagosa Springs. It flows briefly northeast, through Platoro Reservoir, then southeast <br />through the Rio Grande National Forest, then east along the New Mexico border through a (truly <br />spectacular) scenic cannon. It enters the southwestern corner of the San Luis Vallee from the west near <br />Mogote and joins the Rio Grande from the west approximately 15 miles southeast of Alamosa. It is <br />impounded at Platoro Reservoir for flood control and to manage irrigation in the San Luis Valley, as part <br />of the San Luis Valley Project of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The river is wide and shallow along <br />much of its course. It descends steeply in several areas, including at Pinnacle Canyon, a popular <br />destination for whiteFVater rafting. Off limits to white settlement during the New- Spain years, many <br />communities along the river claim roots in early land-grant settlements established by the government of <br />Mexico in the 1830s. The first settlement of 50 families along the river, in the Guadalupe Grant in 1833, <br />'k as destroyed in an attack by Native Americans. Jose Jacques established the first white settlement on the <br />river in 1851. The town of Conejos was founded in 1854 bn Lafayette Head, who later became the first <br />lieutenant governor of Colorado. <br />Impact, Importance, and Urgencv: Although the scope of this Project is physically small, the effect and the <br />implications of doing or not doing this Project are immense. If present conditions are allowed to persist, <br />there is a high likelihood of flooding. If the river left its banks with a substantial volume of water, the <br />entire irrigation system and the lands irrigated by them would be devastated. The Conejos River system, <br />and therefore the Rio Grande Compact system, would suffer if a substantial volume of water went north, <br />bypassing the Los Sauces gauge. This would, without any doubt, flood several cornrnunities in the path of <br />the water. Another urgency is financial. By starting this Project as soon as possible, the costs of this <br />installation will be much lower than they would be if the project is put on hold. Due to its impact, <br />importance and urgency, MLI proposes that Colorado Water Conservation Board expedite this <br />enviroinnentally friendly approach to a long standing and increasingly fragile riverbank problem. Along <br />with all other benefits, it will enhance fish habitat and stabilize the riparian corridor along the north bank <br />of the Conejos River. Most important, quick implementation of this Conejos River stabilization project will <br />avoid what is vei v clearly a disaster in the making, with implications that go far beyond the completion of <br />this project. <br />Other Relevant Issues: Manassa Land & Irrigation Company has worked closely in prior years with <br />CWCD in a mutually beneficial Nvav. CWCD'S contribution of $8,000 allowed MLI to start Phase I of <br />this Project in the spring of 2008, and at this writing that phase is almost complete. The District has <br />pledged another $10,000 toward Phase III's construction of the Core and Diversion Gates. MLI has also <br />benefited from engineering and oversight assistance from NRCS on numerous occasions. Both entities are <br />familiar with the J-hook structures proposed here, developed by D.L. Rosgen, P.H., of Pagosa Springs. <br />20