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. UTILIZATION OF WATER SUPPLY The San Luis Valley Irrigation District water supply is used exclusively within the District boundaries as shown on Map 7z8-7 located in the back pocket of this report. Within the District boundaries, assessments are currently paid on 312 quarters plus Jl0 acres or a total of 50,030 acres. Because a majority of the "corners" on each quarter are not irrigated, the actual irrigated area is approximately 45,000 acres. The San Luis Valley Irrigation District (SLVID) owns 801.45 cfs of direct flow water rights plus 51,113 acre-feet of storage water rights in Rio Grande Reservoir. The diversion records for the SLVID are shown in Tables 9 and 10 for direct diversions and storage diversions, respectively. The time period begins in 1968, which marks the beginning of Compact Administration, and continues through 1980. The average annual direct flow diversion for this period was 31,043 acre-feet and the average annual storage diversion was 22,687 acre-feet. This total average annual diversion of 53,730 acre-feet amounts to approximately 1.2 acre-feet per acre of irrigated land. Since this is not an adequate or full water supply for the irrigated area, the farmers within the SLVID supplement their surface water supply with groundwater. Approximately 70 percent of the irrigated area is served with center pivot sprinklers and wells. Other farmers use wells to flood irrigate their land. Since the surface water supply is generally only available for limited periods during the irrigation season, the SLVIO and its members allow surface supply to recharge the unconfined aquifer in the Closed Basin so they can sub- sequently pump this water through their wells. This results in a very efficient conjunctive use of water. The crops grown within the SLVID are hay, barley and potatoes. Especially for . . -30- primarily alfalfa or barley and potatoes, grass it is