Future uses likely to

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By RUTH HEIDE

ALAMOSA — While celebrating the 100-year history of reservoirs in the San Luis Valley participants in the centennial reservoir celebration this week learned how vital reservoirs will be to the Valley’s future.

Speakers during the “100 Years of San Luis Valley Reservoirs” symposium in Alamosa on Tuesday addressed reservoirs’ history, present condition and future uses.

Speakers recounted how the primary purpose of the reservoirs in the past was irrigation, but reservoirs are being utilized or considered for broader uses in the future ranging from recreational uses to increased storage. The potential for hydropower for electricity was also suggested.

The speakers addressed surface reservoirs such as Santa Maria, Continental, Rio Grande, Sanchez and Platoro Reservoirs as well as the largest reservoir under the Valley’s surface.

Colorado Division of Water Resources Division III Division Engineer Mike Sullivan said that while early reservoirs were developed for irrigation purposes, other uses arose over the years. For example, the Colorado Division of Wildlife became interested in reservoirs for fisheries, he explained.

Sullivan said even today the majority of the Valley’s reservoirs are used for priority storage for irrigation districts. Winter flows are stored for release during the irrigation season, Sullivan said.

He said the water division is currently undertaking an experiment to store 10 percent of what it would normally send down the river. The district is storing that water in the Rio Grande Reservoir, he said. He added he had to impose a 25-percent curtailment on water users on the Rio Grande in order to make the Rio Grande Compact accounting work, but instead of sending all 25 percent downriver right now, he is storing 10 percent of it. He said storing the water up here keeps the district from over-delivering water to Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico where the evaporation rates are much higher than the high-mountain Rio Grande Reservoir.

Sullivan said reservoirs are also used to store transmountain water, and reservoirs have been used for conservation purposes. He added reservoirs are also used for augmentation purposes. For example, he said the San Luis Valley Water Conservancy District, which runs the biggest augmentation plan in the Valley with more than 600 wells in its program, stores water in the Rio Grande Reservoir and releases it to make up for depletions.

Sullivan said reservoirs are also used for flood prevention.

David Harrison, attorney for the Conejos Water Conservancy District since 1975, said, “I think we will have to continue and probably in the future increase the operation of reservoirs for nonconsumptive uses.” He said the Conejos district has already incorporated that in its operations of Platoro Reservoir that the district took over from the Bureau of Reclamation. The district sets aside a certain amount of water for a permanent fish pool at the reservoir, he said.

Harrison said the management of the largest reservoir, the underground aquifers, is the toughest and requires tools that can help water users calculate how much water can be withdrawn from that reservoir while maintaining a sustainable system. “Storage is almost essential ... in being able to pull it off,” he said.

Harrison added, “It is clear with sub-district groundwater management plans that compensate stream flow you are going to need surface storage as part of the mix. I do not think we have figured out how to do it yet. I think it is the next element of complexity to crack in the San Luis Valley.”

He said he did not see the construction of large additional water storage as realistic although the Rio Grande Reservoir might be able to expand. He advocated maximizing the storage in the Valley’s biggest reservoir, “the one under your feet.”

Travis Smith is superintendent for the SLV Irrigation District that owns the Rio Grande Reservoir, a reservoir being evaluated for the possibility of a 10,000-acre-foot enlargement. “We think the storage is under utilized,” Smith said.

Smith said the reservoirs constructed about 100 years ago also need rehabilitation. The Rio Grande Reservoir, for example, has seepage problems, he said.

Ron Peterson, a longtime member of the Santa Maria Reservoir board, said he believed that reservoir could be more fully utilized for recreational opportunities, flood control and other uses.

Rod Reinhardt, president of the Terrace Company board that manages Terrace Reservoir, said, “I think these reservoirs are a huge asset, and I think we need to get them updated.”

The three-day “100 Years of San Luis Valley Reservoirs” celebration concludes today beginning at 10 a.m. in Monte Vista at Chapman Park where stagecoach rides will be available, parade floats will be presented and judged, period costumes will be worn and judged, music will be shared, a box social lunch will be offered and Colorado State University Professor Dr. Daniel Tyler will present the concluding speech, “Reservoirs in a Broad Context.”