Smoke plumes rise as ditches are burned and debris cleared; the 575 miles of canals and laterals in the Uncompahgre Project area are prepared to serve more than 76,000 acres. The winter's storms have been generous.
"There was big water in 1995, but this is the most snow that I've dealt with since I've been here — and I've been here 12 years," said Marc Catlin, Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association manager.
  
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As of Friday, the Gunnison Basin's year-to-date precipitation is 128 percent of its 30-year average for this time of year; its snow water equivalent is 138 percent the average, according to the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service.
Catlin said that because of the time that's passed since high waters, a considerable amount of debris has collected at the "old high-water line."
"I'm talking natural debris, you know, stuff that a beaver's cut or a tree that's been blown down or any of those kinds of things, and if we get real high water it floats all of that — and then the bridges and the headgates and everything catch that debris and you have to remove it," he said.
Catlin said the UVWUA works to ensure the waters are free-flowing, as blockage can lead to "dangerous and critical" situations. When the water's normal path is blocked it can lead to flooding and loss of resource for downstream users.
Ditch rider
Ben Underwood is a UVWUA ditch rider of five years. He works six days per week and is on call 24/7. He said he's experienced with having to "pull an all-nighter."
"If something happens (and) we got water in the ditches, we gotta get it repaired and fixed as quickly as possible," Underwood said. "We're shorting the farmers their livelihood, you know. That water's out of there, they can't irrigate — talking about their lives."
He said the ditch riders try to "kind of foresee" problems that could occur during their 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shifts, for the water runs higher at night. The association has 16 ditch riders who work the six-day shifts from April 1 to Nov. 1, while the ditches are in use.
Underwood said the April winds push debris into the ditches, so this is a busy time for the riders. They must also contend with beavers that try to construct dams before the flows increase.
"The beavers, you know, they think they need to stop them, so, we go to work overtime. Once we get 'em (the ditches) charged up to 100 percent they realize they can't keep up with it," he said.
And after laying on the ground for extended periods, snow loosens soil off the banks, adding to the runoff.
"And then we have a lot of trash homeowners just love to throw in there because it gets it off their property real quick, you know," Underwood said.
His coverage area is 54 miles along Spring Creek Mesa, including 26 lateral canals, several users and about 150 pumps. He estimates about 75 of those pumps are illegal.
Pump enforcement
The association is taking action to crack down on unregistered pumps this spring, not so much for revenue but accountability, Catlin said.
"It's the water. And if we don't account for the unregistered pumps, then that water appears to be unused and not put to a beneficial use," he said. "Beneficial use is a big part of water rights."
He said people on the Front Range and elsewhere watch the quantities.
"If there's water that's not being used, that gets to be kind of fair game, and the other thing is just out of fairness. Farmers and other people that are paying for the pumps, they're carrying the load."
Most folks with unregistered pumps are residential users who use the water to irrigate landscaping and gardens. The annual registration fee for such application is $165 and can be paid at the UVWUA office at 601 North Park Avenue. Enforcement is to begin in mid-May.
"After we start water, if they haven't registered their pump we're gonna notify them and they'll have 10 days to come in and take care of it. And after that then we will remove their pump from the ditch (for noncompliance)," Catlin said.
Underwood said the association began pushing for awareness in the past two to three years and has been "setting the table" for enforcement.
"It's one of those situations where you've gotta kind of be careful. You don't want the community upset," he said. "And the other thing is some of these people have been doing this for 30 years, you know, now all the sudden they realize that (it's illegal)."
The registered pumps are to be tagged this year to allow for easy identification.
So it flows
Although the snowpack is high and the conditions for this year's irrigation appear promising, it's difficult to predict the outcome. Catlin said the type of melt will affect the water levels.
"If it gets hot real quick and stays hot at night then it will melt off fast in kind of an uncontrolled fashion," he said.
Bureau of Reclamation water management group chief Dan Crabtree said in an e-mail last week that the Gunnison River Basin shows a runoff volume of 147 percent of normal inflow with high snowpack.
"Considering this, in conjunction with the March maintenance activities which have kept Blue Mesa Reservoir higher, we now need to start moving larger volumes of water in order to avoid spills later this spring," according to the e-mail.
A 500 cubic feet per second by-pass release from Crystal Reservoir was started to accomplish this.
On April 10, 2007, the basin snowpack was 69 percent of average and Crystal Reservoir release was at 850 cfs. On April 10, 2008, the basin snowpack was about 138 percent of average and the reservoir's release was 2,433 cfs, according to the Bureau of Reclamation Web site at www.usbr.gov.
Catlin said the people he works with are proud of their work.
"They know that quitting time is when we get done. If you're fighting a flood, you can't take a break, you can't go home and sleep — you're there."
Contact Robert Allen at roberta@montrosepress.com
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