Options and Obstacles for Water at the Rio Bosque

Friends of Rio Bosque Board member, Judy Ackerman, has well outlined the options and roadblocks for getting water to the Rio Bosque. Her document is a must read:

Friends of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park currently see four options to get water to our wetlands park: Effluent from the Bustamante Water Treatment plant, Turnout from the Riverside Drain, a Connection between Basin G and the Riverside Drain, and More wells.

Overview of four Options

1. Effluent from the Bustamante Water Treatment plant.

Cost: NONE

Infrastructure Requirements: NONE

Agreements and legal hurdles: Agreement from El Paso County Water Improvement District Number One (ElP #1)

Drawbacks: Agreement from ElP #1.

2. Turnout from the Riverside Drain.

Cost: ~ $ 10,000

Infrastructure Requirements: The turnout itself, connection to the Old River Channel in the park, and a bridge for the Tornillo Trail.

Agreements and legal hurdles: Donation of water rights and more.

Drawbacks: unknown

3. Connection from Basin G to the Riverside Drain
Cost: unknown

Infrastructure Requirements: Building the connection and more.

Agreements and legal hurdles: unknown

Drawbacks: Could only deliver water when Basin G, Feather Lake, or Feather Lake 2 has storm water.

4. More wells.

Cost: Considerable initial investment and then cost of electricity and maintenance.

Infrastructure Requirements: for drilling wells, and creating appropriate electrical infrastructure.

Agreements and legal hurdles: unknown

Drawbacks: Requires electricity or noisy generators that will need considerable continuing maintenance. Removes water from the Bosque’s groundwater to put on the surface.

More details:

Currently the Bosque is watered by John Sproul with a water trailer owned by the Friends of the Bosque that carries 750 gal. He spends all his available time, all day, 5 days per week, hauling water from the Bustamante Treatment plant to deliver to individual trees and plantings in the park. By this labor intensive process, the Bosque received approximately one acre foot of water in 2011.

There is extensive documentation on water quality improvement, natural habitat and quality of life improvements achieved by utilizing wetlands to processes effluent. The advantages of doing this at the Bustamante Treatment Plant and the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park are beyond measure.

Effluent from the Bustamante Water Treatment plant.

The Bustamante Water Treatment plant is directly adjacent and upstream from the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park. The volume of water from the plant is about 30,000,000 gal / day (about 92 acre-feet per day, during the summer months). The Rio Bosque Wetlands Park started to receive water from Bustamante in 1998. In 2001 and 2002, the park received water almost all year, including the growing season and plant life in the park responded with profusion.

The Rio Grande Project 2001 Implementing Third-Party Contract obligates EPWU to give about two thirds of the Bustamante effluent to ElP #1. Because ElP #1 owns the infrastructure, they decide where ALL the effluent goes. The infrastructure allows two possibilities: the effluent can go into the Riverside Cannel (the irrigation channel) or the Riverside Drain (also known as the Hudspeth Drain).

When ElP #1 does not want or need the treated water in the Riverside Cannel, it directs the water into the Riverside Drain by turning valves at the Bustamante Treatment Plant. When water is in the Riverside Drain, park managers can divert it through the park in the old river channel and, if desired, by a series of gates, to three wetland cells. In recent years, water is available in the Riverside Drain for 2 – 3 months in the winter (NOT the growing season). The park can accommodate between one half and all the water from the drain. At the southeast (downstream) end of the park, the water is returned to the Riverside Drain.

By simply turning the valve, the park could receive at least the one third of the treated water that is not obligated to ElP #1. This is an easy, no-cost solution, which would greatly benefit the citizens of El Paso.

Turnout from the Riverside Drain.

Chuy Reyes, General Manager ElP #1, says that ElP #1 will construct the turnout this winter (2011 – 2012), but not pay for the construction or the design costs. Bosque Program Coordinator/Manager, John Sproul has secured funding grants from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and from the IBWC to cover the cost of the turnout and the connecting channel between the turnout and the old river channel. The Friends of the Rio Bosque have committed to covering installation of the footbridge for the Tornillo Trail.

Charlie Wakeem had been trying to donate his water rights to the Bosque. His application has been pending with ElP #1 for five years. This would be a test case for HOW to donate water rights to the Bosque. El Paso County owns 137 acres of water rights at the Tornillo Port of Entry. Many people, including Chuy Reyes, General Manager ElP #1, and Ernie Carrizal, the County’s Acting Public Works Director, agree the county should donate those water rights to the Bosque.

Connection from Basin G to the Riverside Drain

This option may be of interest in relation to storm water issues.

More wells. The Bosque has a well near the northwest corner of the park that pumps 400 gal/min. In the winter when groundwater levels are at their highest and evaporation at its lowest, the pump can deliver water to approximately one quarter of the Old River Channel. At the height of the summer, the pump can flood about one-eighth of the channel. More wells would require too much cost, noise and maintenance to be a viable option at this time.

Other points:

El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) is aware of issues with water at the Bosque and Rudy Valdez is the primary contact. In public forums, Ed Archuleta, President/Chief Executive Officer, said, “we can fix that” referring to no water at the Bosque.

Stealing water from El Paso citizens by pumping groundwater from the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park: ElP #1 owns the water under their own land along the Riverside Canal. They operate 6 wells that pump water from the land immediately adjacent to the Bosque. This summer, and as of 13 Oct 2011, these pumps are running 24/7, each pumping up to 1,750 gal/min from the groundwater into the Riverside Canal for irrigation use. In 2011, this pumping is primarily responsible for dropping the groundwater level in the park by 15 feet – below the roots of the cottonwood and other trees.

El Paso County Water Improvement District Number One (ElP #1) and lining the Riverside Cannel with cement:

http://www.usbr.gov/uc/albuq/envdocs/ea/epcwid1/index.html

This “finding of no significant impact” is in direct opposition to the facts and considerable data on file at UTEP.

Note that Chuy Reyes, brother of Congressman Silvestre, has not addressed Charlie Wakeem's offer of five years. He now says (with a fork tongue?) that they will build a turnout but not pay for it. The improvement district is clearly "stealing" water from the Bosque. Environmental studies are now just political covers for some to do whatever they want to do to the land and water. Someone remind me to check to see Silvestre's footprints all over that "environmental" document.