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<br />OU1372 <br />SAN LUIS VALLEY PROJECT, COLORADO <br /> <br />Conejos Division, Platoro Reservoir <br /> <br />PJatoro Reservoir, operated by the Conejos Water Conservancy District, with its office in <br />Manassa, Colorado, experienced no operational problems in 1997 other than one day <br />without supervisory control, due to a lightning strike to telephone equipment. <br /> <br />Platoro Reservoir began 1997 at a storage of 21 ,850 acre-feet (at). The reservoir was <br />operated to optimize the water supply during the irrigation season. The extended spring <br />runoff with late season rains left some ditches with stored water still in the reservoir. There <br />were no flood control operations in 1997. Supplemental releases to meet irrigation <br />demands were nearly equal to last year. The 1997 forecast indicated another water short <br />year, therefore, there was an increase in altemate point of diversion storage for direct flow <br />rights. <br /> <br />Closed Basin Division <br /> <br />The Alamosa Field Division of the Albuquerque Area Office operates and maintains a <br />water salvage project constructed in the Closed Basin area of the San Luis Valley, <br />Colorado. It is a ground water salvage project which pumps water that would otherwise <br />be lost through evapotranspiration, from a shallow, unconfined aquifer. The project <br />consists of a field of 170 wells distributed throughout an area of approximately 130,000 <br />acres, 115 miles of pipeline laterals, 42 miles of conveyance canal, 82 boundary <br />observation well sites, a complex remote control and monitoring system, 96 miles of <br />overhead primary electric lines, 31 miles of underground primary lines, and 42 miles of <br />underground secondary lines - a total of 169 miles of electrical distribution system. <br /> <br />Reclamation continues working under the guidance of the Closed Basin Operating <br />Committee, using appropriate operating criteria as the framework for management of <br />Closed Basin operations and water deliveries. <br /> <br />Closed Basin. Operations and Maintenance <br /> <br />Operations <br /> <br />The project was pumped at a capacity consistent with cold weather operations from the <br />first of January through most of March. At the April 1 0, 1997 meeting of the Closed Basin <br />Operating Committee, it was recommended that the project be operated to maximize <br />production while maintaining drawdown within the legislated guidelines. <br /> <br />Beginning December 1, 1997 the official site for monitoring the water quality in the Closed <br />Basin Canal is the outlet structure located at the confluence of the canal and Rio Grande <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br />