WSP07436

• File Number: 8543.600
• Description: San Luis Valley Project
• State: CO
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Date: 6/1/1987
• Author: USDOI/BOR
• Title: San Luis Valley Project - Colorado - Closed Basin Division - Design and Planning
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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THE DESIGN OF THE PROJECT

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Int roduc t ion

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The overall design of the Closed Basin Division reflects its purpose: to create
and maintain"a multiple purpose water resource project. The project will pro-
vide a source of water which can benefit the San Luis Valley in many ways.
Water deliveries and transferred water rights to the Alamosa National Wildlife
Refuge and to the Blanca Wildlife Habitat Area will help sustain the quality of
wildlife babitat in the area. Water from the project will also help re-establish
the San Luis Lake-Head Lake Recreation Area.

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Features of the Closed Basin Division have been designed with these benefits in
mind.

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A critical concern in the design of the project is to prevent any adverse effect
on the surrounding lands. Designs for each part of the project are refined on
the basis of enormous amounts of scientific data. The ongoing collection of
data helps in assuring that the project operation will not have an adverse
effect on the surrounding lands.

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Specialists in many areas combine their skills to make the Closed Basin Division
a reality. Geologists, engineers, design personnel, realty specialists,
construction inspectors, surveyors) and researchers are only a few of those who
play major roles in the development of the project.

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Biologists in the Bureau of Reclamation's Southwest Regional Office in Amarillo,
T~~as, assess the results of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's inventory of
the Closed Basin wetland areas, Researchers study and inventory the vegetation
of the Closed Basin. Most of this consists of rabbitbrush, gressewood,
saltgrass, and other water-consuming vegetation.

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STAGE DEVELOPMENT

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The Closed Basin Division consists of a network of shallow wells connected by
buried pipelines. The water collected in these pipelines will flow to a PVC
lined conveyance channel which empties into the Rio Grande at a point just
southeast of Alamosa. We will examine each of these features in depth.

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The construction of the Closed Basin Division was planned for four stages of
development over an eight-year period, Each stage contains some salvage wells,
the number varies according to the amounts of water available in the unconfined
aquifer in those areas.

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Current ground water studies show that about 170 wells are needed to pump
100,600 acre-feet annually from the shallow, unconfined aquifer in the project
area. The breakdown of wells in each stage is as follows:

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Stage 1-2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5

58 we lIs
45 wells
42 wells
25 wells

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