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The San Juan RC&D partners with many groups that address the issues of water management in Southwest Colorado. These issues may include the conservation, use, and quality of water, including irrigation and rural water supplies; the mitigation of floods and high water tables; the repair and improvement of reservoirs; the improvement of agricultural water management; and the improvement of water quality. Click on a project below to read more.
Animas River Stakeholder Group Animas Watershed Partnership GPS Irrigation Survey Pine Rive Watershed Group River Education Trailer WaterWise Education Program Weather Modification Formed in the mid 90's as a volunteer collaborative effort to address the serious problem of heavy metal contamination from abandoned mines in the upper Animas River watershed. Bill Simon, Coordinator for the group has provided leadership and expertise through the years. Through hard work and open discussions, ARSG began to tackle the huge problem by evaluating and taking inventory of the approximately 1,500 mines and waste sites in the area. After evaluation and testing, 67 priority sites were found to be producing over 90% of the heavy metal contaminates that find their way into the Animas River system. Partnering with the San Juan RC&D, they began the process of obtaining funding to address these sites. In 1997, when the Federal Abandoned Mine Lands program began, the sites were selected as one of two pilot areas in the nation.  The partnerships formed with the ARSG allowed for the successful leveraging of more than $35 million for remediation activities and more than $3 million worth of in-kind volunteer support. Various partners, including the San Juan RC&D, BLM, Forest Service, state and local agencies, public interest groups, and mining industry representatives contribute much needed financial resources and support to enable successful reclamation of the former mining sites in the watershed. Bioassessments of the fish and macro-invertebrates in the Animas River and its tributaries has begun to show improvement in recent samplings. With future projects planned, continued improvement of the water quality and health of aquatic life in the river can be anticipated. The ARSG continues to demonstrate that at highly engaged, active and patient stakeholders group can make critical progress toward clean up and reclamation goals in an important watershed in Southwest Colorado. Animas Watershed Partnership GPS Irrigation Survey
Pine River Watershed Group Vallecito Lake Monitoring The Pine River Watershed Group (PRWG) has been working to monitor and protect the upper Pine River watershed since 1997. Over the last decade, volunteers have spent countless hours sampling the local streams and Vallecito Reservoir to gather baseline data for this pristine area. In 2002, the 70,000 acre Missionary Ridge Wildfire burned a significant portion of the area. With this major event new challeges were identified. Fish die-offs, low oxygen levels, and high concentrations of iron and manganese were found in Vallecito Reservoir. In June 2006, The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released a statement that the reservoir's pike and walleye fish populations contained mercury. In May 2006, a grant was obtained from the Colorado Watershed Protection Fund  (CWPF) to study rainfall runoff and flood potential of tributaries draining the burned areas around Vallecito Lake. The grant also provided funds to analyze water samples from the lake. Gauging stations were established on six streams, and volunteers measured stream stage on a daily basis at each site. Rainfall data were compiled from the USGS real-time rain gages and from the CoCoRAHs site north of the reservoir.Most of the rainfall events during the summer in the Vallecito watershed were 0.02 to 0.9 inches. Thses rainfall events did not cause floods or debris flows from the burned areas into the small tributaries on the west side of the lake. A 2 inch rainfall occurred on October 6th and 7th, which did not flood the small tributaries. However, the warm rain occurred at high elevations, melting the snowpack, raising Vallecito Creek to 3,700 cfs, and flooding areas along the main stem of Vallecito Creek north of the lake. PRWG and San Juan RC&D's partnership continues to address the many questions about the water quality of the watershed and has expanded sampling and research. In September 2006, the Southwestern Water Conservation District (SWCD) and Pine River Irrigation District provided funds to conduct a natural background mercury study in the headwaters of the Pine River. Vallectio Mercury Sampling  To further assist in answering the question of the source of the mercury, the La Plata County Commissioners funded a study in March 2007. PRWG measured mercury levels in precipitation at Vallecito Reservoir using a state of the art automatic precipitation sampler installed just below the dam on Pine River Irrigation District property. The protcols are scientifically rigorous for collection, processing, and analysis of mercury in precipitation. During th summer of 2007, mercury concentrations in precipitation at Vallecito Reservoir ranged from 5.8 to 72 nanograms per liter (ng/L, or parts per trillion). In comparsion, mercury concentration at Mesa Verde National Park ranged from 1.2 to 126 ng/L between 2002 and 2005. When the 126 ng/L concentration was reported at Mesa Verde in July 2002, it was noted as the highest concentration ever recorded in the U.S. The 72 ng/L concentration recorded at Vallecito Reservoir on July 19, 2007 also ranks among the highest concentrations recorded in the U.S. Additional financial assistance was provided by SWCD in October 2007 to continue the sampling of the watershed.With additional requests for funding being prepared, PRWG hope to continue their work in identifying the sources of mercury and other elements that are degrading the water quality of the upper Pine River watershed and Southwest Colorado. River Education Trailer WaterWise Education Program 2007-2008 Program Summary Report Weather Modification
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various dynamic actions that occur on the landscape due to the influences of rivers, watersheds, soils, erosion, and human activities. Channels, upland areas, riparian areas, and river areas are formed and water is pumped through the exhibit to show the events that take place when water moves across a landscape and how ground water functions.
in home water usage through increased residential resource efficiency and community awareness. Equipment such as kitchen and bathroom aerators, water-saving showerheads, and toilet leak detector tablets are demonstrated and distributed to 5th grade students in the program. Over the past six years, the program has been implemented through the schools in La Plata, Archuleta, San Miguel, and Montezuma counties. The sponsors of this program are the San Jun RC&D, Bureau of Reclamation, and local municipalities.
District (SWCD), Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), and Western Weather Consultants to provide weather modification services to the watersheds of Southwest Colorado. This long running program has been operating cloud seeding generators with funds from various local entities and downstream states. San Juan RC&D serves as the fiscal agent and administers the contracts involved in this important and far reaching program.
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