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. e e . COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD Pine River Irrigation District River Gaging Station (management improvement) January, 1992 Introduction The Pine River Irrigation District (District) has contracted with the United States of America (Bureau of Reclamation) since 1940 for the operation and maintenance of the Vallecito Reservoir which is located about 20 miles northeast of Durango, Colorado. This reservoir serves southwestern Colorado as a multiple use facility and it has a total storage capacity of 126,300 af which is used to irrigate 45,000 acres of non-Indian land and 18,000 acres of Indian land, provide municipal water for the Towns of Bayfield and Ignacio, for public water based recreation and waterfowl enhancement. Problem A major problem for the manager of the District is obtaining reliable data to allow the reservoir to be properly managed for multiple uses. The reservoir was built for the purpose of providing storage for irrigation water. In addition to being a valuable irrigation reservoir it has become a major recreation reservoir in Southwest Colorado along with providing waterfowl habitat along a major flyway. With these multiple uses the need arises to balance the water needs of each use. Currently there are no reliable data or methods available, other than "seat of the pants" to provide guidance to the manager when making decisions on water level management of the reservoir. Proposed Project The Durango office of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) has prepared a RC&D plan which addressed several alternatives for solving the District's problem on the operation of the Vallecito Reservoir. Whereas the RC&D plan addressed the need for both inflow and outflow data on the reservoir, the District is only asking the CWCB for assistance on the installation of two gauging stations below the reservoir. One station would be installed immediately below the reservoir and the other would be installed at the last diversion point on the District's distribution system. Each station would have a sensor and monitoring device which could transmit flow data to a remote receiving station and this would provide the valuable outflow data needed. The estimated construction cost to install these two stations is $190,000 and the SCS will provide the plans, specifications, construction engineering and inspection for the project.