Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Durango water supply Here's a look at Durango's water supply sources from The Durango Herald. From the article: The city owns the rights to 9 cubic feet per second on the Florida River, about nine miles upstream from town, said Jack Rogers, director of public works. In the summer, Durango supplements its supply with water from the Animas River. It owns 50 cfs but uses only about 10 cfs at once. The rest is available for future growth. Some of Durango's rights date to 1877, which means they take precedence over junior water users... [Durango] has only a small reservoir, called Terminal Reservoir, which holds 75 million gallons just east of Fort Lewis College for use at the water-treatment plant. The city will get storage space in the Animas-La Plata Project. The dry year of 2002 was tough, Rogers said. The Missionary Ridge Fire made Florida water unusable, and the Animas got down to 120 cfs. "That's as low as we've known it to have been," Rogers said. "There are old-timers who say the river's gone dry in the past." Animas-La Plata will give the city a place to store water, in case the rivers ever dry up again. The city's water system serves 19,000 people in the city limits and nearby areas, such as the unincorporated land around Wal-Mart, Rogers said. The city's growth projections show the water system will have to serve 40,000 people at some undetermined time in the future. Category: Colorado Water 6:54:48 PM     Southwestern Colorado and the San Juan Here's a look at Colorado's obligations under the Colorado River Compact and the La Plata River Compact from The Durango Herald. From the article: The Colorado River Compact binds all parts of the state together in a struggle for water against the downstream states - California, Arizona and Nevada. But Southwest Colorado wrestles with its own particular water issues, thanks to its geography. The region is home to a dozen rivers and Colorado-only Indian reservations. And three other states sit nearby. "We view our competition for water as the state of New Mexico," said John Porter, president of the Southwestern Water Conservation District. "They get 11.25 percent of the Colorado River. Well, that all has to come out of the San Juan River." A separate agreement, the La Plata River Compact, governs the small river southwest of Durango. Every day, Colorado has to deliver half of the river's flow at Hesperus to the state line. That's been difficult to do in dry seasons. To help meet the obligation, SWWCD wants to build Long Hollow Reservoir. It would be five miles north of the state line. The Animas-La Plata Project should resolve a long fight over water rights for the two Ute Indian reservations, but New Mexico is still solving its own Indian water problems, and they spill over into Southwest Colorado. New Mexico plans to pipe San Juan River water to Gallup to settle a dispute with the Navajo Nation. But the state was already using its share of the Upper Colorado River Basin, so it first had to get the federal government to agree that water was available. The result was the June 2006 "Hydrologic Determination" by the Bureau of Reclamation. It recalculated the amount of water available to the whole Upper Colorado Basin - Utah and Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. "Oddly enough, from our suspicious minds, the Bureau came up with 21,000 acre-feet (for New Mexico), which is exactly what the Gallup pipeline needs," Porter said... Category: Colorado Water 6:16:18 PM     Tim Gates: What we're seeing is the same strategies that boost agricultural productivity will improve water quality, and that's not always the case Tim Gates from Colorado State University has been studying the effects of irrigation on groundwater, soils and water quality in the Arkansas River Basin. His work is the subject of this article, the 11th in their series "Water Logs," from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:A study that started out to look at the impact of irrigation on land and water farm-by-farm has grown into a potential means for predicting the effect of large-scale water changes in the Arkansas Valley. Back in 1999, Colorado State University professor Tim Gates and his colleagues started looking at 125,000 acres of farmland above John Martin Reservoir, taking field measurements to see how irrigation affected water tables and the salinity of the water. In 2002, another 136,000 acres below John Martin Reservoir were added. The study has given researchers the most complete data ever collected in terms of irrigation water use in the Arkansas Valley and an understanding of how irrigation changes the environment. For farmers in the project, there is an opportunity to learn how to apply water more scientifically. The researchers have branched out from simply studying the farms to looking at canal systems. One of the most significant parts of the study has been looking at how best to apply polyacrylamide, or PAM, as a way to seal canals. But there are larger benefits to the valley as well. Along the way, Gates discovered the data could be compiled to model how large-scale changes in water use could affect water availability and quality for the entire area downstream of Pueblo Dam. "What we're seeing is the same strategies that boost agricultural productivity will improve water quality, and that's not always the case," Gates told the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District recently. Unlike other water conservation strategies, lowering water tables in the valley could produce more water for beneficial use - potentially more than the city or Pueblo uses each year. In the process, Arkansas River water quality would improve because salinity, selenium and metals would be reduced by 30-40 percent... Seepage from canals and excessive runoff from fields contribute to waterlogging, or water tables that are too high. This in turn leaches more salt into the soil and water. Productivity could be improved by 10-20 percent with better irrigation practices. Gates intends to add the area around Pueblo and Fountain Creek to existing studies to get a complete picture of the valley. The upper reach of the river is more influenced by urban factors, but needs to be considered to get a holistic picture, he explained... A study led by Colorado State University professor Tim Gates has been looking at water use on farms in the Arkansas Valley since 1999. - The issue: More than 1,000 miles of ditches irrigate farms east of Pueblo. The diversion and application of water has benefitted the economy immensely, but has caused water tables to rise and increased salinity in land and water. - What's at stake: If nothing changes, historical trends mean increasing salinity, poor water quality and diminished returns for farmers. - Why it matters: A side benefit of improving irrigation efficiency could be dramatic improvement of water quality for all users. - Who's involved: Colorado State University at Fort Collins. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 5:57:22 AM

© Copyright 2008 John Orr. Last update: 1/31/08; 9:09:07 AM.