BOARD01608

• Board Meeting Date: 5/24/1999
• Description: ISF Section - Colorado River Basin Issues - Lower Rio Blanco Habitat Restoration Project - Status Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

e

e

e

Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

STATE OF COLORADO

.

Bill Owens
Governor

MEMORANDUM

CregE. Walcher
Executive Director, DNR
Peter H. Evans
Director, eweB

TO:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

FROM:

Dan Merriman
Todd Doherty

DATE:

May 17, 1999

SUBJECT:

Agenda Item 9b, May 24-25, 1999, Board Meeting--
Instream Flow Program - Colorado River Basin Issues
Lower Rio Blanco Habitat Restoration Project - Status Report

Proiect Background
The Rio Blanco Habitat Restoration Demonstration Project (project) is a cooperative
effort among a number of state, local and federal entities designed to reduce nonpoint
source pollution and improve habitat on the Rio Blanco. On September 17, 1996, the
Colorado Nonpoint Source Program Task Force voted to commit $96,000 in grant funds
to the San Juan Water Conservancy District to restore a 2.l-mile segment of the Lower
Rio Blanco. The Lower Rio Blanco Habitat Restoration Demonstration Project was one
of four projects selected by the Task Force for funding that year. In addition, an
additional $64,000 was matched by financial and in-kind contributions from the San Juan
District, the Lower Blanco Property Owners Association, the Southwestern Water
Conservation District, the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the Colorado
Division of Wildlife. The Colorado Water Conservation Board's in-kind contributions
included public facilitation, public information/education and technical assistance.

The Rio Blanco is a tributary of the San Juan River and is a significant source of water
for Bureau of Reclamation's San Juan-Chama Project. The San Juan-Chama Project is a
major trans-basin diversion that has been diverting water through a series of pipelines
into the Rio Grande basin since 1971. In the 1996-1997 water year, the total project
diversions totaled 93,000 acre-feet of water. For the Rio Blanco, the diversions
associated with.the San Juan-Chama Project represent 70% of the historical flows. These
reductions in flow have contributed to poor water quality conditions, reduction in fishery
habitats, streambank erosion, sediment loading, relatively high water temperatures and a
wide, shallow streambed with little pool habitat and cover to support a cool water fishery.
The project involves a watershed-based approach to restoring the river which includes