To improve irrigation, landowners in southern Montezuma County recently formed the McElmo Reservoir and Ditch Company.
The newly formed organization plans to improve water supply to farmers and ranchers in the McElmo Canyon area.
According to public records, a board of directors was created and includes Gary Adams, Bob Schuster, Jimmy Porter, Steve Wallace, and Bernard Karwick.
Planning is underway to improve irrigation service, including negotiating to potentially purchase Totten Reservoir from the Dolores Water Conservancy District.
McElmo Canyon irrigators currently have water rights in McElmo Creek. The water is delivered through eight ditches totaling about 100 miles, diversion dams, pipelines and pump stations that were built and paid for by local users.
According to a ditch company statement submitted to The Journal, McElmo irrigators have been relying on a 1962 decree that apportions McElmo water and recognizes their source includes tailwater from the Montezuma Valley Irrigation System.
The canyon’s independent irrigation systems are not within the DWCD and Montezuma Valley Irrigation District service areas.
In recent years, farmers began to recognize a long-term water supply problem in McElmo Creek, which has seen decreased flows. Buying a reservoir for water storage is seen as a solution.
“Our foremost concern is to secure Totten for dedicated McElmo use,” ditch officials stated.
The McElmo irrigators who bought the most water from DWCD out of Totten formed the new ditch company.
Every year, six to 12 farmers buy water from Totten Lake from DWCD. It is released into McElmo Creek for McElmo Canyon irrigators.
Various factors are contributing to the risk of decreased flows in the creek.
A twist of geology and human engineering from 134 years ago helps explain the canyon’s irrigation story and current dilemma.
After water pioneers dug the Dolores Tunnel in 1886 to bring Dolores River water to the Montezuma Valley, farms and ranches sprung to life.
Because of the trans-basin diversion (from the Dolores River Basin to San Juan Basin), McElmo Creek began to see increased flows from runoff of higher elevation farms receiving a new source, Dolores water.
When McPhee Reservoir went online in the 1980s, irrigators switched from flood irrigation to more efficient sprinkler systems, which decreased farm runoff into McElmo Creek. That trend is expected to continue, and drought management plans to increase water efficiency on farm lands above the canyon could further reduce flows.
MVIC has also expressed interest in buying Totten Reservoir and expanding its service area to serve McElmo Canyon. They point out that McElmo Creek has long benefited from MVIC water that drains off farms.
The new ditch company, MVIC and DWCD continue negotiations to help solve the McElmo water supply issue.
The organization will carry on discussions with MVIC and have expressed a willingness to buy Totten if MVIC is not interested, company officials said.
“The new company can be a foundation for moving forward as things unfold,” officials said. “The importance of water to our valley has never been greater, and at the moment, McElmo is most at risk of shortage.”
jmimiaga@the-journal.com