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<br />COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD <br />102 Columbine Building <br />1845 Sherman Street <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br /> <br />January 5, 1976 <br /> <br />TRINCHERA PROJECT <br /> <br />The proposed Trinchera project is located in the southeastern <br />part of the San Luis Valley in northern Costilla County in the general <br />vicinity of Fort Garland. The principal industry of this area is <br />irrigated agriculture and the proposed project contemplates the improve- <br />ment of an existing irrigation system under the sponsorship of the <br />Trinchera Irrigation Company. <br />The area has been irrigated for over a hundred years, but the <br />irrigation efficiency has always been quite low as the result of heavy <br />canal losses. There are approximately ninety-four farm owners in the <br />area who irrigate a total of about 11,450 acres" The irrigated acreage <br />varies in relation to the available water supply. On the average, about <br />1,800 acres are idle" The irrigation water is obtained from Trinchera <br />Creek and its tributaries, which is supplemented by approximately 160 <br />irrigation wells" <br />Costilla County is a chronically depressed area with a per capita <br />income of about one-half of the state average. About a third of the <br />families in the county have an income less than the poverty level. <br />About fifty-six percent of the farms in the area produce an income of <br />less than $5,000. <br />Problem <br /> <br />The principal problem in the project area is low farm income as <br />the result of relatively low crop production. This low production <br />