A look at the management of water in the San Luis Valley

From the Valley Courier (Virginia Simmons):

In the 1860s the legislative branch of the Territory of Colorado had already made provisions about water use in the relatively small ditches by appropriation. The first ones created in the early 1850s were soon followed in the 1860s and 1870s by ditches that diverted water from the main stem of the Rio Grande River itself. In 1876 the constitution of the State of Colorado established appropriation of water rights in the order of priority, the doctrine of prior appropriation, and by the 1880s Colorado was making considerable headway in organizing the state government. The filing of ditch rights began in 1881.

In 1881, the Judicial Branch of the State of Colorado was granted final authority over priority, amount, location, and use of water rights. The judicial branch of Colorado’s government still has the authority over water matters relating to water, from district courts up to the Colorado Supreme Court.

Much later, in 1969, seven judicial districts would be established, overlapping with the seven major river basins of Colorado. The Colorado Twelfth Judicial District is in the Third Water District, the same geographical area as the San Luis Valley. Besides being a water court, the district court deals with many other types of cases, of course, so district judges get assistance of water referees, attorneys who examine cases related to water and make recommendation to the district judge. In Colorado Judicial District 3, District Judge Pattie M. Swift is the water judge.

Since 1881 also, the state has had an Office of the Water Engineer, our Colorado water pooh bah. Beginning as a one-man office, it was responsible for such activities as records of surface and ground water rights, decrees, stream flow and water use, and dam safety. The state engineer also serves as Colorado’s commissioner on the Rio Grande Compact Commission. The Division of Water Resources (DWR) is currently headed by Director Dick Wolfe.

Division 3 of the Division of Water Resources (DWR) was established in 1969, whereby the state designated seven divisions, one for each of Colorado’s major water basins. Division 3 occupies the San Luis Valley, the drainage of the Rio Grande River in Colorado and the same geographical area that is served by the judicial District Court, District 3.

In the DWR’s Division 3, Rio Grande Basin Division, the division engineer is Craig Cotten, with his office at 301 Mullins, Alamosa. He oversees monitoring stream flow, water use, well permits, ditch repair, and dam repair, and files reports with the Denver office. Local water commissioners’ offices are located at present at Monte Vista (District 20), Antonito (22), and Saguache (25, 26, 27). Water commissioners measure stream flows at gaging stations, coordinate calls for users with senior and junior rights, and send reports to the division engineer. Ditch riders are hired by ditch companies to maintain ditches and headgates, open headgates, and other on-the-ground jobs, some of which may get touchy.

Municipalities must comply with DWR regulations, water quality policies of the Colorado Water Quality Commission, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, the Colorado Water and Wastewater Facility Operators Board Certification, and the local code of ordinances, and federal laws. In a large town such as the City of Alamosa, the contact is the Director of Public Works, whereas smaller towns may have a water and sewer department. Residents of rural areas and small villages use domestic wells.

Not until 1957 and 1965 was legislation passed regarding wells, ground water, and augmentation. Permits for ground water wells were then required and are administered by DWR. Statutes also were passed that included tributary water in wells that were affecting surface water rights. Since 1972, DWR has administered domestic well permits on property of less than 35 acres. Restrictions on permits may differ from one county to another, but they still must comply with DWR’s state regulations.

Over all, then, administration of the Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR) for the entire, diverse state is a large responsibility. And this is just one division within the present Colorado Department of Natural Resources (CDNR), where some other divisions are also related to water. Mike King is director of CDNR.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley: State Engineer Approval of the 2013 Annual Replacement Plan for Subdistrict No. 1

From email from the State Engineer’s office (Kathryn H. Radke):

On April 30, 2013, State Engineer Dick Wolfe approved the Annual Replacement Plan for Subdistrict No.1.

This approval will be filed with the Division No. 3 Water Court later today.

All documents are located on DWR’s website at the following location:
http://water.state.co.us/DivisionsOffices/Div3RioGrandeRiverBasin/Pages/Subdistrict1ARP.aspx

Note: these documents can also be downloaded from the DWR’s FTP site:
ftp://dwrftp.state.co.us/dwr/Annual%20Replacement%20Plans/2013/Subdistrict%201

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

State Engineer Dick Wolfe approved a water replacement plan Tuesday aimed at mitigating harm from groundwater pumping in the north-central San Luis Valley.

Wolfe’s approval made few changes to the proposal from Subdistrict No. 1, which is required to lay out what sources of water it will use to replace water lost by the pumping of nearly 3,400 wells in the subdistrict’s boundaries.

He did bar the use of 86.5 acre-feet of water from Ruby Reservoir southwest of Creede until a substitute water supply plan is submitted to and approved by his office.

But that still leaves the subdistrict with a pool of more than 7,500 acre feet of water it can release into the Rio Grande to mitigate the injury to surface water rights holders.

A state computer model estimated that pumping would cause 5,389 acre-feet in depletions that the subdistrict must replace.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Water court: Subdistrict No. 1 pumpers can claim water from Reclamation’s Closed Basin Project

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

A water court judge ruled Wednesday that groundwater irrigators in the north-central San Luis Valley can claim water from a federal reclamation project to offset their pumping. The 45-page order from Judge Pattie Swift allows Subdistrict No. 1 to claim water from the Closed Basin Project, which pumps groundwater from the east side of the valley and sends it to the Rio Grande.

Objectors, which included five parties, argued, among other points, that the use of water from the project injured surface rights owners who were dependent on the Rio Grande and its tributaries.

Swift’s order said the project developed and delivered water to the Rio Grande that would have otherwise never made it to the river. “Thus the court cannot presume that pumping the Closed Basin Project wells causes injury to senior surface water rights,” the ruling said.

The subdistrict, which takes in more than 3,000 irrigation wells in the north-central valley, was created primarily to replace depletions to the river caused by pumping. The subdistrict purchased and leased over 10,000 acre-feet in 2012, including the Closed Basin Project water, and was ordered by the state engineer to return 4,724 acre-feet to the river.

In this year’s annual replacement plan, the subdistrict has again proposed using up to 2,500 acre-feet from the project toward its replacement obligations, although the proposal still requires approval of the state engineer.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Dick Wolfe hopes that the Rio Grande Decision Support System will be ready next month

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

Wolfe said the computer groundwater model, the Rio Grande Decision Support System, is still being updated, and the new target date for that model to be ready to go is April. The San Luis Valley’s first water management sub-district depended on the model calibrations to determine how much it owed senior surface water rights, and future sub-districts will depend on the model for those numbers as well.

Wolfe said he wanted to make sure the model could be used to accurately determine the amount of depletions each sub-district needed to replace to surface water rights before moving forward with the rules.

“We want to make sure it’s done right,” Wolfe said.

He added he would like the model to be ready in April, but if it still needs work, he would rather wait than use incomplete information.

“We have a lot of hours, man hours, and people working on getting the task accomplished,” he said.

“I am optimistic we are getting closer to final numbers.”[...]

Rio Grande Water Conservation District General Manager Steve Vandiver said the model could have been completed more quickly if those working on it had not had to take time for court hearings and trials over the sub-district. Vandiver said after the first sub-district was approved in 2006, two lawsuits were filed that bound up resources including engineers, modelers and attorneys. They have had to prepare for three major trials and a Supreme Court decision. Those legal challenges were the reason the model has not been completed more quickly, Vandiver said…

As soon as the model is satisfactorily updated, the groundwater rules advisory committee will begin meeting again, Wolfe said. This group is now in its third year of working on the regulations, he added. Two pieces of the regulations still need to be finalized, the phase-in portion and the sustainability portion, Wolfe said. The phase-in portion lets each sub-district get a plan of water management approved by the court and an annual operating plan in place. The sustainability portion was difficult, Wolfe said, because the group had to determine how to measure sustainability.

Once the rules are completed, they will be submitted to the water court for final adoption, Wolfe said. If the rules are opposed, they will go through an appeal process, so the effective date of the rule implementation would depend on how quickly and smoothly that process went.

More San Luis Valley Groundwater coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley irrigators await CRP funds ahead of fallowing land

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

Groundwater irrigators in the San Luis Valley are awaiting a pair of approvals for a federal program that would pay some to retire farmland and conserve water use. Tim Davis, a consultant for the groundwater subdistrict that hopes to fallow 40,000 acres in the northcentral part of the valley, said Thursday that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack still must authorize the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program for the area. Moreover, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget also must authorize spending for the program, which could send up to $109 million in federal funds over 15 years to subdistrict farmers who fallow land. “We’re getting very close to putting this thing on the ground,” Davis told farmers at the Southern Rocky Mountain Agricultural Conference and Trade Fair.

The subdistrict, which is entering its second year of operation, would add up to $27.3 million in fallowing payments over the same period. The subdistrict was designed, in part, to reduce the use of groundwater from the unconfined aquifer, which is at its lowest level since monitoring began in the 1970s. The federal payment would be $175 per acre per year and allow farmers to use 18 inches of water over a 36­month period to establish a cover crop. The subdistrict also would pay a share but will include bonuses to farmers who choose to fallow and sit just north of the Rio Grande between Monte Vista and Del Norte. The subdistrict’s goal there is to restore a groundwater formation known as the hydraulic divide, which it hopes will reduce losses to the river caused by groundwater pumping.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

‘The water levels in the San Luis Valley aquifers are dropping, and have been dropping’ — Craig Cotten

Here’s the latest installment in the Valley Courier’s Colorado Water 2012 series, written by Craig Cotten. Here’s an excerpt:

The Rio Grande is in the fourth year of below average streamflows. Other parts of Colorado are also in a severe drought this year, with some areas having a more severe single year drought than the San Luis Valley. However, much of Colorado had very good precipitation and streamflow last year which filled their reservoirs and aquifers. In fact, some areas in the northern part of the state had one of their best years ever last year in terms of precipitation and streamflow, while this basin languished in the midst of a multi-year drought. Since the extreme drought year of 2002, there have only been three years of above normal flow on the Rio Grande and only two years on the Conejos River. Some smaller streams around the valley have fared even worse, with only one year of above normal flows in the last ten.

The water levels in the San Luis Valley aquifers are dropping, and have been dropping, over the last several years. This drop is in response to the lower than normal recharge into the aquifers from the area rivers, streams, and ditches. After seeing modest gains during the years of 2007 to 2009, the unconfined aquifer is once again dropping substantially.

According to the aquifer study conducted by Davis Engineering, the unconfined aquifer in the West Central part of the San Luis Valley has lost nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water during the last three years. There is not a formal, comprehensive study of the confined aquifer throughout the Valley, but this aquifer is also seeing significant declines in the amount of artesian pressure. While it is not known exactly how much water is in the aquifers, it is obvious that the San Luis Valley cannot continue this drastic drop in the aquifers without severe long-term consequences…

In order to address the problem of injury to surface water users and the decline in the aquifers due to well pumping, the State Engineer is in the process of developing Rules and Regulations concerning the withdrawal of groundwater in Division 3. The State Engineer is being assisted in the development of these rules by a 55 member advisory committee made up primarily of area water users.

While these rules are not completed yet, we do know generally what they will require. In general, the rules will require that large capacity wells in the San Luis Valley repay the injury that they are causing to senior water rights, which are generally ditch and canal rights. In addition, the rules will have a sustainability component which will require that well owners ensure that the underground aquifers are brought back to a sustainable level.

The repayment of injurious depletions and ensuring sustainability can be accomplished by a well owner in two ways. A well owner may choose to implement an individual augmentation plan in which that owner will cover his individual well or wells. Otherwise, a well owner may choose to join a subdistrict, which, in exchange for monetary payment, will provide the repayment of injurious depletions and the sustainability of the aquifers for that owner.

More Colorado Water 2012 coverage here.

San Luis Valley: Groundwater sub-district #1 trial concluded

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

A couple of points in the sub-district’s operating plan, which was implemented for the first time this year, were the focus of the two-day trial this week before Judge Swift. Most of the discussion revolved around the inclusion of augmentation plan wells in the sub-district’s 2012 operating plan and the use of Closed Basin Project water in the 2012 plan…

In his closing argument on Tuesday afternoon, RGWCD Attorney David Robbins said the district acknowledged it made two errors of omission in the 2012 Annual Operating Plan (ARP): 1) list of augmentation wells; and 2) map of those wells’ locations. Robbins said the un-augmented well depletions from those wells within the sub-district were identified and replaced, however. Robbins suggested the way to handle the compliance errors this year would be for the court to enjoin the sub-district in the future to ensure it complies with the required information.

Attorney Tim Buchanan, representing surface water users who filed objections in this case, said he believed the court should go a step further. He said a message must be sent that the court decrees must be complied with. “The 2012 plan did not comply with the plan as decreed by this court and as approved by the Supreme Court,” Buchanan said. “Therefore in my view we need to fashion a remedy that does not approve the plan but directs the plan be amended to reflect the augmentation wells were not properly included, that they should have been separately identified and they should be separately accounted for.”[...]

The other contested topic in this trial was the use of Closed Basin Project water to replace well depletions to streams this year.

In his closing argument attorney Bill Paddock, representing sub-district supporters, reminded the court the judge’s October 4 order resolved the question of legal suitability of Closed Basin Project water for use in the plan of management. The question argued during the trial was a factual question regarding whether the water was an appropriate source of replacement water for injurious depletions, he said. Paddock argued the project water was appropriate to replace depletions and said the state engineer agreed.

When [State Engineer Dick Wolfe] was on the stand on Tuesday, he said he and his staff, with advice from their legal counsel, determined the sources of replacement water in the sub-district’s 2012 ARP, including the Closed Basin Project water, were suitable. Wolfe said the water court’s May 2010 decree stated this possible source of replacement water was not prohibited. He testified the sub-district’s plan of water management approved by the water court and Supreme Court specifically referenced Closed Basin Project water as a replacement water source.

More SLV groundwater coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley: Groundwater sub-district #1 trial update: Use of closed basin water still a sticking point

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

When the afternoon was concluded, objectors and supporters had agreed in concept to the 2012 annual replacement plan (ARP) for the sub-district and the underlying methodologies and technologies used to develop that plan. That made one of the remaining motions to strike expert witnesses and their reports a moot point because there is now no longer the need for a number of witnesses to present extensive testimony.

Proponents now plan to call only three witnesses, Rio Grande Water Conservation District Manager (RGWCD) Steve Vandiver, RGWCD engineer Allen Davey and Colorado Division of Water Resources State Engineer Dick Wolfe.

This first sub-district, which was designed to repair injurious depletions from well pumping to surface water rights and reduce the draw on the aquifer, operates under a management plan that is effectuated each year through an annual replacement plan. The annual plan spells out how depletions will be replaced…

The sponsoring water district approved the annual plan, as did the state engineer. Objectors challenged it and asked the judge to prohibit wells from pumping in the sub-district boundaries until those challenges were resolved this year. She denied that motion.

Objectors subsequently asked for their claims to be withdrawn and the October trial to be vacated. Judge Swift told objectors they could either withdraw their challenges to the 2012 replacement plan on the condition they could not bring those challenges back again or withdraw them with the opportunity to re-file them only if they paid the supporters’ costs for preparing for trial. They chose the first option, except for Schwiesow whose client the Costilla Ditch Company chose not to withdraw its claims.

One issue still remaining for trial is the use of Closed Basin Project water as one of the sources to replace depletions. Davey in particular will testify to that issue next week. He will also testify about augmentation wells, another issue still pending before the judge…

One of the controversial topics before the judge on Wednesday revolved around the possibility of challenging sub-district water plans in the future. Proponents said they would like some definitive rulings from the judge regarding the foundation of the water plan so they would not have to go through all the time and effort they did this year every year to defend the sub-district’s plan.

“We want the court to be in a position to be able to make factual determinations about the adequacy of the replacement plan because it was so broadly challenged,” [David Robbins, attorney for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District ] said.

[Attorney for the objectors Tim Buchanan] said the objectors raised broad issues “because we didn’t want to be foreclosed in the future from raising those issues.”

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Rio Grande Water Conservation District board meeting recap: The impending water court trial and conservation issues dominated

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

Now that the culmination is in sight for the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) the water district has spearheaded for about eight years, it looks like some of the San Luis Valley counties may not sign off on it, Robbins told the board on Tuesday. If they do not, the residents in their counties will not be covered by it.

The first of its kind in the U.S., the HCP was designed to permit the routine maintenance by farmers, ranchers, city and county crews in areas that might otherwise be up for critical habitat designation for endangered species such as the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher. Under the plan, farmers could still clear ditches and ranchers could still graze their cattle.

Without an HCP to provide mitigating habitat to allow the counties incidental take permits for those routine activities, individuals, cities and counties would have to apply for individual permits or stay out of the willows.

Robbins said this plan has been the subject of dozens of public meetings, but now some of the county officials or their legal counsel are raising questions that might mean some deal breakers with them signing off on the plan.

“It’s entirely possible one or more counties may decide they don’t want to take advantage of the benefits afforded by the habitat plan, which is unfortunate,” Robbins said.

He added, “We can’t make cities and counties participate if they do not want to. We will tell the Fish and Wildlife Service they are not covered by the HCP and Fish and Wildlife can determine critical habitat and take whatever actions it wishes.”

One of the issues being raised now, he said, was concern over federal jurisdiction, which is what the plan is attempting to avoid.

“It is absolutely beyond my comprehension why anyone would not want to take a very low cost way to avoid interactions with the Fish and Wildlife Service and why governments within the Valley would not want to avoid having to deal with that,” Robbins said.

Another issue is the multi-year clause in the HCP, Robbins explained. Some counties argue they cannot enter a contract encumbering county funds for more than one year at a time. The HCP is a 30-year agreement.

Robbins said all of the counties and their attorneys have had questions about the HCP. The county attorney for Conejos County wants to reserve the right to litigation. Robbins said governmental entities regularly enter into agreements in which they state they will not sue each other.

Robbins said the water district staff, board and legal counsel will do everything they can to get the HCP approved and implemented, especially given the time, effort and money involved in developing it, “but if it doesn’t work, there’s not much we can do about it.”

The HCP should be final in November or December.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here.

Rio Grande River Basin: The State Engineer is cracking down on over-pumping

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

This week [State Engineer Dick Wolfe] issued a draft policy concerning pumping limits for large-capacity wells in the Rio Grande Basin, Division 3 Engineer Craig Cotten announced to those attending the Rio Grande Water Conservation District board meeting yesterday in Alamosa.

The draft policy involves pumping limits for wells, specifically nonexempt large capacity wells, which have been required to meter usage for a few years now. Some of these wells have exceeded the pumping limits in their permits or decrees, Cotten explained, so they may be required to curtail or shut down pumping next year.

“We have actually started ensuring those limitations are complied with,” Cotten said on Tuesday, “but this policy sets it more in stone how we are going to do that and what steps we are going to take to ensure the wells are pumping within their limitations.”

He said this was something that needed to be handled, and this policy will set limits in black and white “so there’s no question.”

He described the bases that will be used to determine if a well has exceeded its limits. Some wells have maximum annual production they cannot exceed in any one year, such as 200-300 acre feet. On that basis, the water office has already ordered some wells to shut down, Cotten said.

“We do know there have been several that have exceeded their maximum annual production, and we have issued orders on those,” Cotten said…

The “volumetric pumping limits of nonexempt wells in the Rio Grande Basin” draft policy refers to the extreme multi-year drought in the basin as one of the main reasons this policy is under consideration. It says the drought years have affected the recharge and storage in groundwater aquifers serving as the water supply for municipal, domestic, irrigation and other water users throughout the Valley. The policy states that during this summer alone, for example, water table elevations declined up to six feet in some areas, and the unconfined aquifer storage in the closed basin, which has been measured over a period of 30-plus years, decreased by about 166,000 acre feet.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley: Groundwater Subdistrict No. 1 implementation plan trial scheduled for October 29

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

One of the main groups objecting to how irrigators in part of the San Luis Valley mitigate the harm caused by groundwater pumping has chosen not to withdraw a number of its claims from court. The move by surface water users from the Conejos River basin and the northwestern corner of the valley, which came in a Tuesday filing to the water court for the Rio Grande basin, means a scheduled trial is still on for Oct. 29.

The objectors reaffirmed their claim against the use of water from the Closed Basin Project, which pumps groundwater from the east side of the valley and sends it down the Rio Grande River to assist Colorado in meeting the Rio Grande Compact.

Subdistrict No. 1, which includes just under 3,400 groundwater wells in the north-central part of the valley, had proposed using up to 2,500 acre-feet from the federal reclamation project to replace an estimated 4,700 acre-feet in depletions this year.

The subdistrict also has leased rights to roughly 5,500 acre-feet from reservoirs and trans-basin diversions near the Rio Grande’s headwaters to meet the depletions.

Judge Pattie Swift said last week the issue concerning the reclamation project could not be decided without a trial since there were issues of fact that were in dispute.

Swift also said the proposal from objectors to have a special master appointed likely would not be decided until after the trial.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley: Groundwater Subdistrict No. 1 implementation plan trial scheduled for October 29

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

Chief District Judge Pattie Swift on Thursday decided some of the pending motions in the water cases involving the San Luis Valley’s first water management sub-district operating plan and the state’s approval of it. She scheduled another hearing for October 24 to deal with more of the pending motions and is still planning to go forward with the scheduled October 29th trial to hear evidence and testimony.

This is the first year of operation for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District sponsored sub-district that involves hundreds of irrigators in the Valley’s closed basin area north of the Rio Grande. The sub-district was designed to repair injuries to senior surface water rights and replenish the Valley’s aquifers, and to that end the sub-district board developed an annual replacement plan for this year.

Objectors asked the court to invoke retained jurisdiction over the sub-district and deal with concerns they have over its first annual replacement plan. Judge Swift earlier this summer denied a motion from objectors that would have shut down wells in the sub-district until concerns over the operating plan were resolved.

Given that decision by the court, the objectors recently filed a motion to amend their invocation to retain jurisdiction and asked the judge to vacate the trial. Sub-district supporters and the state engineer’s office asked the judge to make an immediate decision on these motions and argued in favor of going forward with the trial.

Since the trial is scheduled for the end of this month, Judge Swift agreed to make a quick decision.

“The objectors seek to amend their claims, to remove them from consideration of the court and vacate the trial because they believe the primary issues remaining to be determined are contained within the amended motion before the court,” Judge Swift summed up the situation Thursday afternoon in court.

She said there are two motions for summary judgment: 1) concerning augmentation plan wells; and 2) concerning the Closed Basin Project.

Two other motions are also outstanding: 1) to strike expert witness designations and reports; and 2) to appoint a special master…

Also on Thursday, Judge Swift ruled on the objectors’ motion opposing the use of Closed Basin Project water for replacement water for the sub-district. She denied the objectors’ motion, “as I find there are disputed issues of material fact that must be determined to decide whether the Closed Basin Project water is adequate and suitable to prevent injuries to senior water rights under the district plan.”

The judge outlined objectors’ concerns with Closed Basin Project water being used to replace injurious depletions to senior water rights, with the objectors arguing that the 1963 Closed Basin Project itself represented a junior water right that in the priority system of water administration was causing injury to senior water rights so could not be used to replace injurious depletions in the sub-district…

Also on Thursday the judge asked attorneys from both sides to give her some guidance by Friday, Oct. 19 on how they believed the retained jurisdiction process should work. She said she saw the court’s primary functions in its retained jurisdiction over the sub-district as reviewing: 1) whether the plan of water management is operated in conformance with the terms of the court’s decree; and 2) whether injury is prevented in conformity with the court’s decree.

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

Water Court Judge Pattie Swift ruled Thursday that opponents of a groundwater plan could withdraw some of their claims if they were willing to pay the attorney costs for the supporters. The court has scheduled a five-day trial beginning Oct. 29 to examine the state’s approval of a plan that laid out how groundwater irrigators in the north-central part of the San Luis Valley would mitigate the harm their pumping caused to senior surface water rights owners during the current irrigation season. One group of objectors made up of surface water users in the southwestern and northwestern parts of the valley had asked the court to rule on their clams without trial in the name of saving time and expense.

But Swift pointed to one issue — the proposed use of groundwater from the federal Closed Basin Project as a source of replacement water for the plan— as one that could not be resolved without trial. “I can only decide that issue after hearing evidence,” she said.

Opponents have argued against the plan’s call to use up to 2,500 acre-feet of water from the project, which pumps groundwater on the east side of the valley and sends it to the Rio Grande to help the state comply with the downstream obligations to Texas and New Mexico.

The opponents have until Tuesday to inform the court of whether they will withdraw any of their claims.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

USDA and Colorado Announce Rio Grande Basin Water Conservation Project Agreement

Here’s the release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture John Salazar today announced that Colorado and USDA have agreed to the terms of a new Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) to help conserve irrigation water and reduce ground water withdrawal from the Rio Grande Basin. The project will enhance water quality, reduce erosion, improve wildlife habitat and conserve energy in portions of the Rio Grande watershed in Colorado. Vilsack and Salazar made the joint announcement at the 2012 Colorado Water Conservation Board Statewide Drought Conference.

“USDA is proud to work with the state of Colorado to enroll up to 40,000 acres of eligible irrigated cropland in an effort to address critical water conservation and other natural resource issues within portions of the Rio Grande watershed,” said Vilsack. “USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program continues to be one of our nation’s most successful voluntary efforts to conserve land, improve our soil, water, air and wildlife habitat resources—and now producers in Colorado have even greater incentives to enroll in efforts to protect the Rio Grande Basin.”

This agreement is for the establishment of permanent native grasses, permanent wildlife habitat, shallow areas for wildlife and wetland restoration on up to 40,000 acres of eligible irrigated cropland with a primary goal of reducing annual irrigation water use by approximately 60,000 acre-feet.

The sign-up date for this voluntary conservation program is expected to be announced soon after an agreement is formalized later this year. Farmers and ranchers in portions of Alamosa, Rio Grande and Saguache counties will then be able to apply for this program at their Farm Service Agency (FSA) service center. FSA will administer the Colorado Rio Grande CREP within these counties, working with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the state of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources through the Division of Water Resources, Subdistrict Number 1 of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, and other state and local CREP partners.

After the agreement is formalized, participants will (1) voluntarily enroll irrigated cropland into specialized 14-15 year Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts, and (2) enter into water use agreements with Subdistrict Number 1 of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District. An additional perpetual irrigation water retirement agreement also will be an option for producers to help achieve long-term water savings.

The following national CRP conservation practices will be made available for eligible land focusing on water resource conservation:

- Establishment of Native Grasses and Forbs – CP2
- Establishment of Permanent Wildlife Habitat, Non-easement – CP4D
- Establishment of Shallow Water Areas for Wildlife – CP9
- Restoration of Wetland Habitat – CP23 and CP23A

CREP is an option under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that agricultural producers may use to voluntarily establish conservation practices on their land. The project will provide land owners and operators financial and technical assistance. Under this CREP, participants will receive annual irrigated rental payments, cost share and incentive payments for voluntarily enrolling irrigated cropland into contracts and installing the approved conservation practices. USDA also will pay up to 50 percent of the cost of installing the conservation practices. Additional special incentives and cost share will be provided by the WAE for land enrolled within a designated focus area within the project area. Additional incentives will be provided by the subdistrict’s WAE to producers who elect to retire water permanently. Participants will establish permanent vegetative covers on enrolled land according to CRP conservation plans developed by NRCS.

To be eligible, cropland must meet CRP’s cropping history criteria, which includes cropping history provisions, one-year ownership requirement, and physical and legal cropping requirements. Marginal pastureland is also eligible for enrollment provided it is suitable for use as a needed and eligible riparian buffer. Producers who have an existing CRP contract are not eligible for CREP until that contract expires. Producers with expiring CRP contracts who are interested in CREP should submit offers for re-enrolling their land into CREP during the last year of their existing CRP contract.

In 2011, as a result of CRP, nitrogen and phosphorous losses from farm fields were reduced by 623 million pounds and 124 million pounds respectively. The CRP has restored more than two million acres of wetlands and associated buffers and reduces soil erosion by more than 300 million tons per year. CRP also provides $1.8 billion annually to landowners—dollars that make their way into local economies, supporting small businesses and creating jobs. In addition, CRP is the largest private lands carbon sequestration program in the country. By placing vulnerable cropland into conservation, CRP sequesters carbon in plants and soil, and reduces both fuel and fertilizer usage. In 2010, CRP resulted in carbon sequestration equal to taking almost 10 million cars off the road.

In 2011, USDA enrolled a record number of acres of private working lands in conservation programs, working with more than 500,000 farmers and ranchers to implement conservation practices that clean the air we breathe, filter the water we drink, and prevent soil erosion.

For more information about the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program or CRP, contact the local FSA service center or search online at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here and here.

Drought news: Rio Grande River Basin — Record drawdown of San Luis valley aquifer

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

The irrigation season in the San Luis Valley is limping to a close with low stream flows and a record drop in the area’s most heavily used groundwater aquifer. Craig Cotten, the state’s division engineer for the valley, said Tuesday that stream flows on the two biggest rivers in the area have dropped to near 2002 levels. That was tempered by the fact that rivers ran much higher this spring. “We had significantly more stream runoff this year than we did in 2002,” Cotten told the Rio Grande Basin Roundtable.

San Luis Valley groundwater sub-district plan garners nearly a hundred pages of objections from surface water users

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

…opponents have said the plan fails to show the work leading to its conclusions.

The filings argue that it lacks data and used a faulty methodology in producing a groundwater pumping estimate of 308,000 acrefeet for the upcoming season. Nor does the plan detail recent adjustments to a state computer model designed to project groundwater use and depletions to surface water. Moreover, the objectors request an explanation of how the projected injury to surface water users was reduced from 5,016 acre-feet in a draft of the plan to 4,706 acre-feet in the final version.

Opponents of the subdistrict also argued in a Friday filing that the standard of review adopted by the court requires the implementation of the subdistrict’s plan be delayed until objections are resolved.

Also, without a plan in operation, the objectors argue that groundwater wells that injure the rights of senior surface users must be curtailed, a move that would break with nearly a century of unregulated groundwater use in the valley.

A status conference in the case has been set for Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Rio Grande River basin: The State Engineer has approved the groundwater Subdistrict No. 1 Annual Replacement Plan

The State Engineer has approved the Rio Grande Water Conservation District’s annual replacement plan for groundwater Sub-district No. 1.

From email from the State Engineer’s office:

On May 1, 2012 State Engineer Dick Wolfe approved the Annual Replacement Plan for Subdistrict No. 1. This Approval was filed with the Division No. 3 Water Court.

All documents are located on DWR’s website at the following location:
http://water.state.co.us/DivisionsOffices/Div3RioGrandeRiverBasin/Pages/Division3EventsAndLinks.aspx

Note: these documents can also be downloaded from the DWR’s FTP site:
ftp://dwrftp.state.co.us/dwr/ARP_Subdistrict1/

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Rio Grande River basin: Groundwater Sub-district No. 1 fallowed acreage at 9,100 acres for this season

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

Rio Grande Water Conservation District Manager Steve Vandiver told the water board during their meeting in Alamosa on Tuesday that some of the irrigators who were going to fallow their land in the first sub-district area this year opted to go with prevented planting instead because it would pay them more than the sub-district.

Vandiver said the sub-district ended up with about 9,100 acres under contract for fallowing this year.

“It was higher than that, and as insurance programs kicked in for prevented planting, people started withdrawing their contracts,” Vandiver told the board. “A number of people withdrew their offers to fallow.”

Farmers could receive $500-600 per acre under prevented planting, while the sub-district was only paying $200-300 per acre, Vandiver explained.

He said at least 18,000 acres would be fallowed to some extent under the prevented planting program, and although that would not entail 100 percent dry up, “there’s a considerable amount of ground that’s going to have a lot less growing on it this year than it has before.”

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Rio Grande River basin: Subdistrict No. 1 public hearing April 19, come by and see the latest groundwater model run results

Click here for a copy of the letter from State Engineer Dick Wolf to the SLV Advisory Committee.

More coverage from Ruth Heide writing for the Valley Courier. From the article:

Groundwater users will begin to pay back surface water users for the harm they have caused them on May 1, at least in the closed basin area north of the Rio Grande where the San Luis Valley’s first water management sub-district was formed.

Before that happens, however, area residents will have an opportunity to comment on the sub-district’s annual replacement plan detailing how it will begin to replace depletions this year.

The state engineer’s office plans a formal public hearing on the replacement plan next Thursday, April 19, at 10 a.m. at the Ramada Inn (formerly Inn of the Rio Grande) in Alamosa.

Colorado Division of Water Resources Division Engineer for Division 3 Craig Cotten said the sub-district board at its meeting on April 3 took comments on its replacement plan and voted to send the plan on to the state engineer’s office with some minor modifications and additions. The sub-district has to have its final annual replacement plan to the state engineer by April 15.

The state engineer will then hold a formal public hearing on April 19. People may sign up that morning to speak, and comments will be recorded. State Engineer Dick Wolfe will likely make a decision soon afterward and must make a decision prior to May 1, when the replacements must begin.

Here’s the link for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District Annual Replacement Plan from the Division of Water Resources.

More San Luis Valley Groundwater coverage here and here.

The Rio Grande Water Conservation District has a little over 8,000 acre-feet in storage to meet augmentation requirements for groundwater Sub-district one

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

The annual [groundwater Sub-district 1] replacement plan, which still requires the approval of the State Engineer, will be the subject of a public meeting Tuesday. One of the main impacts from pumping has been to deplete stream flows and a court-approved computer model has determined the subdistrict will be responsible for paying back 5,016 acre-feet to the Rio Grande this year…

To meet that demand, the subdistrict has amassed 8,072 acre-feet in three reservoirs near the Rio Grande’s headwaters. The division engineer will determine when those releases will be made, starting May 1…

The subdistrict also has contracted with 39 growers to fallow 10,312 acres, a move the plan predicts will reduce consumptive use by roughly 12,700 acre-feet. The subdistrict’s goal is to add between 300,000 to 500,000 acre-feet back into the aquifer from its current level.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley: Fallowing of acreage irrigated by pumping to start this season, reduction of 5,000 acre-feet is the target

The Rio Grande Water Conservation District has been working diligently for several years to set up groundwater subdistricts to reduce pumping from the aquifer underlying the valley. The hope was to avoid having the State Engineer’s office come in a shut down wells as has happened in the South Platte and Republican River basins. The effort in the Valley has led to the creation of groundwater Subdistrict No. 1 which will start operations this season with a goal (set by the State Engineer’s office) of a 5,000 acre-foot reduction. Here’s a report from Matt Hildner writing for The Pueblo Chieftain Click through and read the whole article. Here’s an excerpt:

The unconfined aquifer, or shallower of the valley’s two major groundwater bodies, is recharged every spring when irrigation canals pull water from the Rio Grande River to fields in the district where it percolates down. Farmers pump it back up later in the growing season. But drought and largely unregulated use have seen the aquifer drop by 740,000 acre-feet, down to its lowest level since water managers began monitoring it in 1976. The subdistrict aims to reverse that trend by retiring up to 40,000 acres of farm ground over the next decade, a move they hope would return between 340,000 and 540,000 acre feet to the aquifer.

While the subdistrict doesn’t expect to finalize all of ifs fallowing contracts until April 1, up to 10,000 acres could be pulled from production this growing season, said Steve Vandiver, manager of the subdistrict’s parent organization, the Rio Grande Water Conservation District. “That will probably be 20,000 acre feet we’re not pumping,” he said. “That’s a big start.”[...]

The subdistrict’s other main task will be to replace the injury pumping of wells causes to surface water users. The valley’s aquifers and streams are connected to varying degrees depending on where one is in the area. And for more than four decades the valley’s surface users have had to bear the burden of the state’s compliance with the Rio Grande Compact as irrigation ditches were curtailed so water could be sent downstream. Groundwater wells faced no such burden. But that will change this season. State computer modeling has determined that the subdistrict will have to return 5,000 acre-feet to the river to make up for the injuries caused to surface water owners. While the subdistrict will have to formally submit its replacement plan to the Office of the State Engineer next month, Vandiver said the subdistrict could have between 6,500 acre-feet and 7,000 acre-feet at its disposal. Most of that water is stored in reservoirs on the Rio Grande upstream of the subdistrict.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

State Engineer Dick Wolf tells San Luis Valley sub-district one irrigators that they need to deliver 5,000 acre-feet of replacement water this year

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

A few days ago the Valley reached another milestone in its sub-district journey with Wolfe’s expectation letter telling the sub-district and its sponsoring district the Rio Grande Water Conservation District how much replacement water must be delivered this year — 5,000 acre feet.

Rio Grande Water Users Engineer Jim Slattery clarified the 5,000 acre feet is the amount of depletions a groundwater model determined must be replaced this year, but it does not begin to replenish the Valley’s greatly reduced aquifer.

Wolfe said the first sub-district must submit a plan to the state by April 15 that includes the specified water replacement amount, and the state will hold a public hearing in April before acting on the plan. The sub-district’s plan must be updated and approved annually…

The groundwater model Slattery and other engineers and scientists have spent countless hours developing is designed to help sub-districts determine how much water they need to replace, and until recently the model was not calibrated to a point where that number could be specified.

Wolfe said now that the groundwater model is refined enough to provide specific data about the kind of water replacements required in the Rio Grande Basin, the first sub-district and several other sub-districts in various stages of formation can move forward more rapidly.

In addition, Wolfe and a large advisory group can begin moving forward again on groundwater rules and regulations for the Rio Grande Basin. The well rules advisory group has not met since last August but will resume its meetings soon, Wolfe said.

His goal is to submit well regulations to the water court before the end of the year. How long between his promulgation of the rules to their implementation will depend on how many objections there are to the rules and whether or not a trial becomes necessary, he said. Wolfe said in similar regulation promulgations in other basins in the state, the time frame was about a year between the time the rules were submitted to the court and implemented.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Colorado Water 2012: San Luis Valley groundwater sub-districts are designed to protect senior surface rights holders and take some irrigated cropland out of production

From the Valley Courier (Steve Vandiver):

In 2004, the Rio Grande Water Conservation District (RGWCD) supported legislation (SB04-222) that granted the State Engineer wide discretion to permit the continued use of underground water consistent with preventing material injury to senior surface water rights and ensuring sustainability of the unique aquifer systems in the San Luis Valley.

The district, as well as other water interests and well owners in the San Luis Valley, undertook this effort to try and reduce the severe negative economic impacts that have come about in other basins as the result of strict priority administration of groundwater by the state. The bill was signed into law in 2004, and codified as section 37-92-501. It prevents the State Engineer from curtailing groundwater withdrawals so long as those withdrawals are included in a groundwater management subdistrict and the withdrawals are made pursuant to the subdistricts’ properly adopted and approved groundwater management plan.

The district supports the development of subdistricts in the Valley as a flexible and innovative alternative to a strict priority administration by the state, as they can ensure protection to senior surface water rights, the viability of the aquifer systems and ensure the protection of the local economy that is dependent upon sophisticated agricultural practices. Water users developing subdistricts determined that subdistricts could be formed in communities of interest with relatively uniform hydrologic conditions that would reflect a local system, all the while protecting senior vested rights and sustaining the aquifer.

More Colorado Water 2012 coverage here.

Colorado Water 2012: Craig Cotten — ‘Approximately one-half million acre-feet per year are pumped from the [San Luis] Valley’s aquifers to support agricultural, livestock, commercial and residential needs’

Here’s the latest installment in the Valley Courier’s (Craig Cotten) Colorado Water 2012 series. From the article:

Early settlers to the Valley relied on both shallow and artesian flowing wells for household and livestock use and even today, more than 90 percent of the Valley’s domestic water supply comes from wells.

But all that groundwater use does not come without an impact to the stream systems and vested water rights within the Valley.

The State Engineer is currently working on developing rules and regulations for the administration of groundwater here in the San Luis Valley to mitigate injury caused by groundwater use. This development has been going on for several years, but the story of rules and regulations actually begins in 1969. That is the year in which the Colorado legislature passed the Water Rights Determination and Administration Act. This Act, for the first time ever, gave the State Engineer the legal authority to administer wells within the priority system, which is based upon the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation. Prior to the 1969 Act, the use of groundwater was not linked to surface water rights.

The State Engineer at that time, C.J. Kuiper, wasted no time in developing rules and regulations for various parts of the state. He first developed rules for wells within the South Platte Basin, then rules for wells within the Arkansas Basin, and then he moved on to the Rio Grande Basin.

In 1975, rules and regulations were developed for wells within the San Luis Valley. These rules mandated that all large capacity wells (greater than 50 gallons per minute) were to be shut down unless they had an augmentation plan to replace their depletions. Needless to say, the SLV well owners were less than thrilled with the new rules. Many individuals and groups objected to the rules, and so, those rules were the subject of years of debate, a 12-week trial, and finally a trip to the Colorado Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled that the State Engineer did have the authority to establish rules and regulations, but that there might be some better options rather than shutting all of the wells completely off. They encouraged the State Engineer to look at alternatives, specifically mentioning the Closed Basin Project. At that time, there was a belief that the Project could produce enough water to cover all of the depletions from the wells.

More Colorado Water 2012 coverage here.

2012 Southern Rocky Mountain Agricultural Conference and Trade Fair recap: Groundwater subdistrict one was on everyone’s mind

From The Valley Courier (Lauren Krizansky):

The management plan’s purpose is to recharge the Valley’s aquifer, and one way to fill it back up is to stop taking water out. The RGWCD Subdistrict 1 is offering a tiered district fallowing program to persuade water users to do just that.

Water users qualify for the program if they have a three-year average of 50 percent reduced pumped groundwater. Contract prices for the 2012 irrigation begin at $300 an irrigated acre for zero groundwater use, $200 an irrigated acre for up to six inches of groundwater use and $100 an irrigated acre for up to 10 inches. The program is not offering incentives for more than 10 inches.

The deadline for fallow acreage bids is Wed., Feb. 15, but the board could extend the deadline if interest grows.

RGWCD Manager Mike Mitchell said that the program is calling for a significant irrigation reduction.

“Twenty-four inches is what is used on the common crops,” Mitchell said. “The whole focus of this is to see how much we can save.”

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Southern Colorado Water Forum recap: Steve Vandiver — ‘We’ve issued too many well permits, and now we’re trying to unscramble the egg’

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

“We’ve issued too many well permits, and now we’re trying to unscramble the egg,” Steve Vandiver, manager of the Rio Grande Conservation District, told the Southern Colorado Water Forum Tuesday. More than 6,000 high-volume irrigation wells have been drilled in the Rio Grande basin in the rich farmlands around Alamosa, Center and Monte Vista over the past 50 years. “These wells have had an impact that was not recognized by anyone when they were drilled,” Vandiver said.

Part of the problem is that one-third of the water in the San Luis Valley has to be sent to New Mexico, in an arid region that gets only about 7 inches of precipitation annually. Since the 1940s, wells have improved and expanded agriculture in the Rio Grande basin.

The greater harm is to senior surface irrigation rights, which date back to the 1850s in the Rio Grande basin. The valley is economically dependent on agriculture, and the farmers themselves have taken up a solution which they hope to implement before the state imposes rules, Vandiver said. “Six subdistricts are being created as a market-driven approach,” Vandiver said.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.