BOARD01811

• Board Meeting Date: 5/11/1998
• Description: Rio Grande Basin Issues - Closed Basin Project Issues
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
721 Centennial Building
131 3 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

STATE OF COLORI\DO

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TO:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

Roy Romer
Governor
James S. Lochhead
Executive Director, DNR
OariesC. Lile, P.E.
Director, eweB
Peter H. Evans
Ading Director, eweB

FROM:

Allen Davey
Hal Simpson
Peter Evans

DATE:

May 7,1998

RE:

Agenda Item 29c, May 11-12, 1998 Board Meeting-
CLOSED BASIN PROJECT ISSUES

At the March 1998 meeting of the Colorado Water Conservation Board,
representatives of the Stockman's Water Company raised a variety of concerns related to
the operation and benefits of the Closed Basin Project and the beneficial use of waters of
the Rio Grande, Following that discussion, you asked that we check into those issues
having immediate relevance to the responsibilities of this Board, While we have not
completed the documentation of our inquiries, we are able to provide this initial report.

The Closed Basin Project is a federal project authorized by Congress in 1972 to
salvage water from the Closed Basin (a copy ofPL 92-514, as amended, is attached),
The primary motivation behind the project authorization and appropriations was a lawsuit
initiated in 1966 by Texas and New Mexico based on the large and growing debt
Colorado was accumulating under the Rio Grande Compact as a result of 5 years of high
precipitation, However, the Project had been proposed as early as 1915 and was
considered as a potential supply to the Rio Grande in the investigation used as a basis for
development of the Rio Grande Compact. A stipulation was reached among the three
states in 1968, and the Colorado State Engineer began management of water rights so that
Compact requirements were satisfied, In most years, the State Engineer has curtailed
surface water rights in accordance with their priority,

The purpose of the Closed Basin Project (formally known as the "Closed Basin
Division, San Luis Valley Project, Colorado") was to salvage unconfined groundwater in
the Closed Basin of the San Luis Valley (that would otherwise be lost to
evapotranspiration) and deliver that water into the Rio Grande to assist Colorado in
meeting its compact commitments while allowing existing beneficial consumptive uses in
Colorado to continue. The Project was developed in five stages, and includes 170 wells
(ranging in depth from 85 to 110 feet) and approximately 42 miles of conveyance canals,
There's also a network of82 observation well sites surrounding the Project that provide
water level data for both the confined and unconfined aquifers, The pertinent provisions
of law for the allocation of water produced by the Closed Basin Project are contained in