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<br />This project site has been returned to the land owner, who will probably continue to farm it. <br />General water quality conditions are expected to remain much the same as during and . <br />before project construction, Nitrate concentrations may change depending on land use, <br />fertilizer application, or other practices. <br /> <br />Project data can be retrieved from STORET by contacting your local EP A Regional Office, <br />STORET location codes can be acquired from the project sponsor. <br /> <br />Economic Evaluation <br /> <br />Total project costs were $678,048, which included $549,668 in costs to construct, operate, <br />and monitor the demonstration site, and $128,380 in Federal adminstrative costs, The <br />sponsor's share of the project was $135,610, <br /> <br />Site construction cost (costs for instruments and equipment, monitoring well installation, <br />construction, and associated labor and travel) was $116,228, Monitoring! operations costs <br />(costs for analysis, report production, and associated labor and travel) totaled $343,083, of <br />which 572,428 was spent in water quality analytical charges, Costs for operating the site <br />were negligible (about $30 for seed plus fuel) and donated by the owner. Small differences <br />in time and fuel required to farm around the wheatgrass barriers versus farming without <br />the barriers were not monitored, <br /> <br />The recharge plot captured about 4 acre-feet more water than did the control plot during . <br />the project, If the only costs for recharge are to construct the barriers, the cost was about <br />$8 an acre-foot. However, if all costs are considered, the water cost about $170,000 per <br />acre-foot. <br /> <br />Conclusions <br /> <br />The snow capture barriers on the demonstration site showed that a measurable amount of <br />additional water could be accumulated on recharge zones and that long-term development <br />of snow capture barriers would makE! a c1,ifferE!nJ;E! in the a_mount of recharge available to the <br />Turner-Hogeland Aquifer. Based on this study, recharge to the aquifer could be increased <br />as much as 15 percent over natural infiltration using snow management techniques. <br />Availability of land with direct hydraulic connection to the aquifer would be a primary <br />limiting factor to widespread implementation of snow management. <br /> <br />The demonstration site showed that early spring recharge from snowmelt commonly occurs <br />and, that during 3 of the 6 years that the project operated, water levels were directly <br />influenced by snowmelt. Moisture content at the base of the soil zone increased almost <br />every winter during the project, indicating that water accumulating on the land surface as <br />snow infiltrated the land surface, Water level response in wells appeared to be triggered by <br />September through April precipitation amounts that were greater than about 4 inches, <br />Examination of long-term precipitation records for Havre show that winter-time precipi- <br />tation (September through April of the following year) amounts of at least 4 inches have a <br />occurred since the winter of 1961-62 about 80 percent of the time, WI <br /> <br />6 <br />