PROJ00518

• Contract/PO #: C153484
• Contractor Name: San Luis Valley Water Conservation District
• Contract Type: Grant
• Water District: 0
• County: Rio Grande
• Bill Number: FSG
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

Extensive development of ground water resources in the San Luis Valley for

irrigation began about 1950. The number of large capacity (yield more than 300

gallons per minute) irrigation wells (unconfined or confined aquifers) increased

from approximately 200 in 1940 to approximately 2,900 in 1969 (Emery, 1972).

Colorado had considerable difficulty in meeting its Rio Grande Compact obligations

in many of the years from 1952 through the late 1960's. A lawsuit (Texas and New

Mexico v. Colorado) was filed in the US Supreme Court in 1966 with Colorado's debt

of almost 945,000 acre-feet as the central issue. This action led to a stipulation

in which Colorado agreed to deliver its Compact Commitment without building up any

further debt of water.

In 1970, the Colorado State Engineer restricted the issuing of new well permits

for confined and unconfined aquifers outside of the Closed Basin and the confined

aquifer in the Closed Basin.

The Closed Basin Division of the San Luis Valley Project was authorized by Congress

on October 20, 1972. This authorization was subsequently amended in 1980, 1984 and

1988. This project is designed to salvage and deliver to the Rio Grande, water

which would have been non-beneficially consumed in the Closed Basin of the northern

San Luis Valley. Construction of the Closed Basin Project was initiated in 1980

and is expected to be completed some time in the 1990's.

Irrigation with sprinkler systems became common during the 1970's. The total number

of sprinkler system increased from 262 in 1973 to 1,541 in 1980 (Hearne, 988). Most

of the sprinkler systems are in the Closed Basin area.

In 1975, the State Engineer proposed rules for administration of ground water in

the Valley. After a lengthy trial, the Colorado Supreme Court in 1983 disapproved

rules for massive ground water curtailment and remanded the proposed rules to the

State Engineer. In 1981, the State Engineer's office stopped issuing well permits

for the Closed Basin unconfined aquifer. Resolutions of San Luis Valley water users

in 1985 resolved much of the conflict which prompted the State Engineer's 1975

proposed rules.

20