Laserfiche WebLink
<br />ESTABLISHMENT, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE <br />OF PHREATOPHYTE CONTROL PROJECTS <br /> <br />by <br /> <br />O. J. Lowry <br />Chief, Land Management <br />Region 5, Bureau of Reclamation, Amarillo, Texas <br /> <br />The establishment of phreatophyte control projects initially occurred <br />as an incidental part of projects constructed for other purposes. As <br />the phreatophyte problem became more evident and the water supply in <br />the Southwest more critical, water salvage projects received consider- <br />ably more attention. The first water salvage project in Region 5, <br />Bureau of Reclamation, was the Middle Rio Grande Project in New Mexico <br />consisting of the rehabilitation of the irrigation and drainage systems <br />of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and river channelization <br />and levee improvements to control sedimentation and flooding in the <br />Middle Rio Grande Valley including Espanola Valley and the Hot Springs <br />area. This was~ approved by Section 203 of the Flood Control Act of <br />June 30, 1948 (Public Law 858, 80th Congress, 2d Session), and author- <br />ized for construction by the Flood Control Act of May 17, 1950 (Public <br />Law 516, 8lst Congress, 2d Session). The construction work was completed <br />in 1962. The channelization portion of the project created a floodway <br />from Cochiti Diversion Dam to Elephant Butte Reservoir, a distance of <br />some 200 miles (Photographs la, lb, and lc), varying in width from about <br />600 feet in the Cochiti and Albuquerque Divisions to 1,400 feet in the <br />San Marcial Division. The floodway containing approximately 15,OOO <br />acres must be maintained, and a principal item of maintenance is the <br />control of phreatophyte reinfestation. <br /> <br />In 1957, the Rio Grande Project, Bureau of Reclamation, and the State <br />of New Mexico jointly initiated a program to clear and maintain a <br />tamarisk-infested area at the head of Caballo Reservoir. The purpose <br />of this project was water salvage. It was justified on the basis of <br />saving some 14,000 acre-feet of water annually by clearing and controll- <br />ing 6,200 acres. This was an experimental program. It is being <br />continued at an annual cost of about $20,000. The removal of tamarisk <br />at Caballo has not only reduced the water loss in the area but has <br />improved the grazing capacity of the reservoir area. <br /> <br />The authorizing legislation for the Middle Rio Grande Project directed <br />the Bureau of Reclamation, in conjunction with other interested Federal <br />agencies, to make studies to determine feasible ways and means of <br />reducing nonbeneficial consumption of water in the flood plain of the <br />Rio Grande and its principal tributaries above Caballo Reservoir. As <br />a result of this directive, the Bureau of Reclamation made a reconnais~ <br />sance study of water salvage possibilities in this area. Analyses <br />based on reconnaissance-type investigations showed that there were <br />about 53,000 acres of phreatophyte areas. Of this total area, it was <br /> <br />26 <br />