WSP05903

• File Number: 8583
• Description: Rio Grande Decision Support System
• State: CO
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Water Division: 3
• Date: 2/1/1998
• Author: Dr. John W. Hernande
• Title: Evaluation Of Salvage Well Production Problems In The Closed Basin Of The San Luis Valley Colorado
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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OC1692

terms during years with high runoff (Reclamation, May 1996, page 1), Within ten years after

ratification of the Compact, Colorado fell into debt in its deliveries to Texas and New Mexico,

By the middle 1960's, the accumulated short fall was in excess of900,000 acre-feet when Texas

and New Mexico asked the U.S, Supreme Court to intervene (Reclamation, June 1987, page 4),

As a result, the Project became a reality,

Closed Basin Topography
The contour map in Siebenthal's report is a graphic presentation of some of the
spectacular aspects of the Closed Basin: the sharp rise of the Sangre de Cristo range to the east;
the marked difference in magnitude of the alluvial fans built by San Luis Valley streams ---large
fans on streams entering the Valley from the west and smaller fans from the drainage east and

north of the Basin; the sharp rise of the foothills to the east and the gentler rise to the west; the

long oval closed-contours for elevation 7530 and 7540 that give substance to the very flat east-

west nature ofthe Valley surface; the eastward shift of the thread of the Closed Basin away from

a more centered north-south axis of the Valley; the flat-slope of shallow San Luis Creek as it run

out from the north, through a series of dry ponds, to end at San Luis Lake; and all the other

elements that have lead to its recognition as the "Closed Basin",

Siebenthal notes that much of the runoff from the mountains to the north, and more

particularly flows from streams that head in the mountains to the east of the Closed Basin does

not reach the floor of valley, but is lost to seepage and recharge of the both the shallow and

confined aquifer systems (USGS, 1910, page 12), Siebenthal tells of the use of canvas to line the

bottom of ditches and stream channels to prevent the loss of water in the alluvial materials at the

foot of the Sangre de Cristo range (USGS, 1910, page 21), A graphical presentation of the paths

for infiltration, recharge, and residual-runoff from the Sangre de Cristos is provided in

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