C150042 Report

• Contract/PO #: C150042
• Contractor Name: Rio Grande Restoration Project Enterprise
• Contract Type: Grant
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Report

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CAI3LSON, HAMMOND 8c PADDOCK, L.L.C.
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
MARY MEAD HAMMOND
WILLIAM A. PADDOCK
LEE H.JOHNSON
PETER C. FLEMING
K. GWEN BEACNAM
1700 LINCOLN STREET, SUITE 3900
DENVER, COLORADO 8020 3-45 3 9
September 18, 1996
JOHN UNDEM CARLSON
(19a0-1992)
TELEPHONE [phone]
TELECOPIER 1303) 661
' Via Hand Deliverv
William J. Killip, I
' Special Proje anager
State Boar of Land Commissioners
620 C tennial Building
13 Sherman Street
, enver, Colorado 80203
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Re: San Luis Valley Water Conservancy District
Dear Bill:
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I am writing to follow up on our telephone conversation last week. As you
requested, I enclose a copy of the proposed lease sent to you by Melanie Backes on
February 8, 1994. I have updated that proposed lease to correct the dates and the name of
the party who will sign on behalf of the San Luis Valley Water Conservancy District (the
"District"), and to expand the project description.
I thought it might be helpful if I provide you with some background on this recharge
project. The District includes substantially all of Alamosa and Rio Grande Counties and
portions of Saguache and Mineral Counties. Much of the lands in the District located north
of the Rio Grande are in the area referred to as the "closed basin." It is called "closed"
because the surface streams that flow into this area do not naturally flow to the Rio Grande.
The closed basin is a very highly-productive agricultural area that contains one of the largest
concentrations of center pivot irrigation systems in the United States, if not the world. The
majority of those center pivot irrigation systems are supplied with water from wells taping
the unconfined aquifer of the closed basin. The unconfined aquifer is a shallow aquifer
ranging from tens of feet thick at its edges to approximately 100 feet thick in the central area
of the closed basin. The State Land Board has a number of wells that depend upon this
aquifer. The District's recharge project is an effort to help sustain and replenish the water
supply in the unconfined aquifer for the benefit of water users within the District who rely
upon the unconfined aquifer.
The unconfined aquifer of the closed basin is unique in that it is essentially an
artificial aquifer that has been filled by and is now replenished largely by the efforts of man.
In the U.S.G.S.'s 1956 study entitled "Ground Water Resources of San Luis Valley,
Colorado," it is reported that prior to the construction of the large irrigation canals bringing
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