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A federal progl'am, the Work Project Administration ('WPA) , was called to action to alleviate the subsurface water problems at San Luis. 6 The drain was constructed parallel to the east side of Highway 159. The drain originates at 5th and Highway 159 and terminates downgrade at Culebra Cr'~ek. The drain is lined with hand placed granite rock from the area. The dimensions of the drain are three foot wide by four to five foot ill height. Manholes are located in the top at the street surface for cleaning purposes (see Fiqure 2 and 3), Residents of San Luis report that after the drain was built, the subsurface water problem in this area of town disappeared. The WPA drain is still in place and functioning, The new areas of town that develop~~d over the years were not protected by the WPA drain, Most of the early homes in San Luis did not have basements or crawl spaces, However. with the advancement of sewers and potable water installed in the homes, basements and crawl spaces were needed to accommodate the necessary piping, The WPA drain system should be examined by the Master Drainage study contractor to determine if a new drain system in an adjacent area might utilize som,,, of the existing drain network, 4,2 U.S. Soil Conservation 5ervice..ll1.';:.ll The SCS has maintained an office in San Luis for many years and is quite familiar with the surface and subsurface flooding problems impact ing the communi ty, A SCS n e Id exami na t ion 0 [ t.he San Luis watershed was accomplished in February 1976 in conjunct.ion with a USDA Study of the Rio Grande Basin in Colorado. This 1976 SCS report recommended that a PL-6 watershed project be considered for flood protection purposes, Planning aut.horization was obtained in 1978, detailed planning activities continued until the Spring of 1979. In early 1979 the Town was faced with the possibility of spring floodinq from a high snow pack in the mount.ains above to;m, The Corps of Engineers, under emergency measures, constructed a levee to prevent possible flooding of San Luis from the sprinq runoff (see 4,3), The Corps of Engineel:s used the levee design prepared by the SCS for t.he PL-6 watershed project, FOllowing the completion of t.he levee, the SCS abandoned the PL-6 project t.o provide flood protection to the TOI,m of San Luis since the Corps of Engineers project had accomplished the original SCS object.ive,l On September 4, 1986, the SCS Area Knqineer inspected a number of homes in the Town of San Luis, whose owners were J:eporting high water table problems (see Exhibit Il), One of the homeowners, of the homes inspected, reported they had not suffered any subsurface water problems until 1986, During 1986, the hom,wwner installed five sump pumps in the basement to remove t.he subsurface water, The SCS has stated that irrigation water mayor may not be the cause of the hiqh water table problem. -6-