Rio Grande - Manassa Conejos River & N Branch Stabilization_BRT Approval Letter

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At the regular R.G.R.T meeting on June 10, 2008, members voted unanimously to request funding from SB 2005 - 179 - Basin-wide and Statewide Funds, for as follows. PROJECT AND AMOUNT REQUESTED SOURCE SIB 179 Conejos River & North Branch Diversion & Stabilization STATE $333,700.00 Conejos River & North Branch Diversion & Stabilization BASIN $ 50,000.00 The Conejos River (Conejos) is a tributary to the upper Rio Grande, accounting for nearly 40% of Colorado's Rio Grande Compact obligation. At the point where the Conejos crosses state highway 285, 1-Y4 miles north of Antonito, Colorado, there is a bifurcation, with a concrete diversion structure (locally known as "the Core") and a headgate system (Diversion Gates). This diversion system is almost 100 years old, and is seriously in need of reconstruction. It was designed to divide and balance the flow of the river into the North Branch and the main channel of the Conejos. Proper operation of the Core and Diversion Gates is therefore important to both channels of the river and critical to Colorado meeting its Rio Grande Compact obligations. The Core and Diversion Gates are owned and operated by the Manassa Land & Irrigation Company (MLI). A 1994 a study of the bifurcation point, prepared by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBOR) for the Colorado Division of Water Resources, recommended replacement of both structures and presented several conceptual design alternatives, but there were no funds available to implement any of the alternatives. Since then the problems at this bifurcation point and the need for this Project have been of serious concern to the Water Commissioner of District 22, the Division Engineer's Office of the Colorado Division of Water Resources, hydraulic engineers at the USBR, and the Conejos Water Conservancy District. Although a number of state and federal agencies have expressed a concern regarding the overall condition of the diversion structure no funding has been available to address these long-standing problems. Manassa Land & Irrigation Company (MLI) has diligently, and at a huge cost over the years, provided the required weekly and often daily maintenance in attempts to cure these deficiencies. After fourteen years, this Project or water activity, directly addresses the needs assessments of the original Statewide Water Supply Initiative (SWSI) study and meets many of the water management objectives as follows: • It increases the ability of irrigators to divert their appropriated water right when they are in priority. • It sustainably meets agricultural demands of 24,850 irrigated acres. • It provides for environmental enhancements or non-consumptive needs of fish habitat by reducing sediment load and woody debris in the river. • It provides operational flexibility by reducing the problems of high sediment loading at diversion structures, thereby reducing the need to perform repeated river channel work to maintain flows of the Conejos. • It enhances wildlife habitat by creating a stable riparian area. Page 2 of 4