A new home for the Mancos Water Conservancy District, and its superintendent, is just across the road from the old office. But its bigger, nicer and has 20 acres to go with it.
It really is a nice location, said Gary Kennedy, superintendent of the district. Its nice to have all this room. But were still getting settled in it.
In front of the office are a few historical artifacts from the projects construction, which Kennedy and the board have proudly displayed now that they have the room.
The MWCD has been busy for the last few years, not only coming up with a new location for its office, but getting construction done on the inlet canal and the reservoir.
The inlet canal lining is completed, and the money has been spent that was appropriated, Kennedy said. Any more work that is done will have to come out of the districts funds.
That particular project was done at a cost of $597,060 by Sapphire Construction, of Grand Junction, according to the MWCD website.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which is the operating organization for the MWCD, said that it wont put any earmarks in the present budget.
We will know in March if they put in any funding for 2013, Kennedy said. But there wasnt any in 2012, so its doubtful. This takes us back to doing very small projects. The boards going to sit back and see what develops.
The district has also put in retaining walls along a portion of the inlet canal, which allows access to the canal for the first time in 50 years. The cost of rebuilding the road was $460,000.
On Oct. 15, 2009, the U.S. Senate approved the 2009 Energy and Water appropriations bill. The bill granted $1.75 million dollars to the rehabilitation project. The total amount of money appropriated to the conservancy district was $8.25 million.
The MWCD oversees the Jackson Gulch Dam and Reservoir, an off-river storage basin which creates 13,000 acres of irrigable cropland for the surrounding area, plus provides municipal water for Mesa Verde National Park, the Mancos Rural Water company and the town of Mancos. The reservoir functions by diverting water from the West Mancos River and transporting it to the reservoir via an inlet canal. It was built in the 1940s to fulfill a need in the Mancos Valley for a better and more consistent way to get water.
History of the district and reservoir
The Mancos Valley was settled, and subsequently irrigated, about 1876. The natural flow of the Mancos River during the months of July, August, and September was very low, and the irrigation water supply for those months was inadequate. By 1893, when a state adjudication of water was made, late summer demands for irrigation water far exceeded the supply. To alleviate the shortage, three small reservoirs storing approximately 1,500 acre-feet of water were built by local irrigation organizations.
The Dust Bowl in the 1930s caused a need for additional storage in the Mancos Valley and several areas were being looked at to bring water into the valley. In the spring, there was a lot of run-off from the snow at higher elevations, but many years during the summer, the river was just a trickle. Even the town couldnt get water, Kennedy said.
In 1937, Bureau of Reclamation investigations led to the conclusion that the Jackson Gulch Reservoir site was the only site of sufficient size to furnish an adequate project water supply. At that time, the project did not appear economically feasible but it received further consideration under the Water Conservation and Utilization Act of Aug. 11, 1939. Detailed project investigations, initiated in November 1940, followed approval of the project.
The project was then approved by the President on Oct. 21, 1940, and construction began on July 24, 1941. It was completed on May 18, 1950. The first water from Jackson Gulch Reservoir was delivered to the water users in 1949. There was a delay on the construction because of World War II and the Civilian Conservation Corps started to build the dam under Bureau of Reclamation supervision. In March 1942, the CCC organization was disbanded and a group of Civilian Public Service assignees resumed the construction work by contract after the war ended. The major project works were completed between May 1947 and December 1948. The money was tight then and the project was almost stopped for financial reasons, said Kennedy.
(U.S. Bureau of Reclamation website - www.usbr.gov)
Water, being a much-needed resource in the Mancos Valley, had to be stored and then allocated to all the surrounding people, whether for domestic or irrigation use.
About 240 landowners all around the valley have their own allocations out of the Jackson Gulch reservoir. A water right was filed for Jackson Gulch No. 36, and the water from Jackson Gulch is let into the river when the river is low. The water commissioner, Wally Patchek, decides how the water is distributed, depending on the need and how low or high the river is at the time. The senior water right holders, those with the lower numbers, get the first rights to the water.
Water diversion from the river to the canal begins as soon as the snow begins to melt in the spring. This is when the water is flowing at its maximum capacity through the inlet canal. Inspections are made for any damage to the canal. Over the years, the canal has been eroded due to water flow, rain, soil and other things coming through it that cause damage, and that is the reason for the repairs and rehabilitation on the canal.
Most of the time, the snow melt provides adequate water for the needs of the valley.
Ive only seen the reservoir below 30 percent three times in the 21 years Ive been here, Kennedy said. In 1996, it went to 18 percent. It was a really dry winter. No rain, and not much snow. We pulled so much of the water out that there was only water left for domestic use and the fish. That same year we had to do emergency repairs and then filled the reservoir. In 1997 it stayed full and we only used it for 14 days.
I cant tell you what its going to do next year, or any year. Its a guessing game, just like the weather, Kennedy said.
Each individual ditch can be used by several ranches, Kennedy said. They have to report to the conservancy district how much they want. Kennedy then releases it and tells the water commissioner where its going and who is getting it. Last year the water ran for a long time, he said. It was July before people needed water out of the reservoir.
Were going into this winter pretty good. Were at 40 percent already, Kennedy said. With an average winter we can usually fill it.
2011 was a good season for water.
Even though spring and summer are the districts busy time, this fall Kennedy will be working on the inlet canal, working on the budget, doing daily and monthly reports about the water ditches for the board, and then, next spring, work on the outlet canal. Both the inlet and the outlet canals are closed in the winter, he said, and domestic water is all that comes out of Jackson Gulch in the winter.
People are really great, Kennedy said. I dont generally get a lot of calls from people not getting their water. I get more calls during the wet years, people wondering when they can use their water.
Working with the Bureau of Reclamation is unique, said Kennedy. The authorization (for the projects) is so unique for the government. They dont ever understand it. It gets very difficult. But the state of Colorado is easy to work with, he said.
Kennedy also sits on the River Basin Roundtable and the Watershed Group.
While boating is allowed in Jackson Gulch, there is no swimming.
Well, for one thing, its very cold, because its a high altitude reservoir, Kennedy said. And two its very deep. Its 160 feet deep when its full, and we just dont want to take a chance of someone drowning.
While the Mancos Water Conservancy District operated under the Bureau of Reclamation, the Mancos Conservation District operates under the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Both organizations are critical for the valley, Kennedy said.
The MWCD can be reached at 533-7325.
