$1.7M distribution hub at Socorro canal completed
Project to deliver more water to farmers, river
The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District has completed a new $1.7 million distribution hub at the Socorro Main Canal.
The project took three years to design and construct at a site three miles northeast of San Antonio.
The district installed 2,800 feet of pipe and a pump system underground, according to engineering division manager Jason Casuga.
“This gives us a flexible tool to deliver water to an additional 1,700 acres in extreme drought times,” he said.
The hub was funded as a drought resiliency project with a Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART grant. Bohannan Huston and Alpha Southwest engineered the system, and district staff built it.
When delivering water along the Middle Rio Grande Valley, the district must account for agriculture and irrigation demands. River levels need to be sustained in certain areas to protect habitat for endangered species like the Rio Grande silvery minnow.
The district diverts water from the river into irrigation canals, where farmers can access it. Then the “return water” flows into an irrigation drain, and eventually ends up back in the river.
The new pump system will direct the return water from irrigation drains to two locations: an upstream irrigation system and the Rio Grande. Casuga said the district can deliver water simultaneously to both sites, or to just one of them, depending on irrigation needs and drought conditions.
“We’re re-using water from those drains, because once water hits the drains, it’s hard to get out,” Casuga
said. “This gives farmers a new source of water that they didn’t have before. It increases the amount of water we can deliver to the main canal. Now we can also put water back into the river sooner than the existing outlet does.”
The pump system controls the speed of drying in certain stretches of the Rio Grande, which will give fish time to migrate north during dry periods.
Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal. Visit reportforamerica.org to learn about the effort to place journalists in local newsrooms around the country.