WATERINTOTTEN Lake, now frozen, would be drawn out under a Dolores Water Conservancy District irrigation project that moved a step closer to reality last week.

A favorable environmental assessment required before construction can begin on an $8 million irrigation project appeared closer to reality last week.

In negotiations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Dolores Water Conservancy District has agreed to pay for a selenium-monitoring program as part of an pending contract required to irrigate dryland farms near Pleasant View.

"We don’t think (selenium) will be a big problem with these new (irrigated) soils," Porter said. "But we did not want to appear to be fighting it, so we agreed."

Selenium occurs naturally in soils, but it can be leached out in unhealthy amounts when saturated by irrigation-return flows. Biologists worry the newly irrigated lands could flush higher levels of the chemical into the San Juan River, threatening endangered fish there.

Selenium is a concern because it is known as a bio-accumulative poison, meaning toxic amounts accumulate up the food chain, causing reproductive problems for wildlife. Species most vulnerable because of their threatened or endangered status are the southwestern willow flycatcher, bald eagle, pikeminnow, and the razorback sucker.

At a special meeting this month, the DWCD board passed a resolution to pay between $30,000 and $80,000 over 10 years to monitor four sites that would be affected by the potential irrigation-return flows. They are upper Yellow Jacket Canyon; upper Sandstone Canyon; the confluence of Sandstone and Yellow Jacket Canyons; and the confluence of Yellow Jacket and McElmo Canyons. The drainages are tributaries of the San Juan River.

Baseline date on current selenium amounts would be gathered before new irrigation pipelines are constructed and put on line. Once new irrigation begins, selenium would be monitored every two years to see if concentrated levels increase. Solutions to minimize the effects, if any, would have to then be negotiated jointly, Porter said.

The new selenium-monitoring program is a part of a carriage contract between the DWCD and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The contract, with its environmental assessment, is needed when privately-owned water is purchased (in this case by the district) for the purpose of delivery to dryland farms via a government-owned irrigation system (McPhee Reservoir, pumps and canals).

The proposed project is funded, and is awaiting a green light from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which must issue a biological opinion by March on the Bureaus environmental analysis.

The bureau concluded in July that the proposed project, slated to expand irrigated farmlands by 4,000 acres around Pleasant View, "should have little effect on fish and wildlife resources."

In a Feb. 1 letter to the USFWS, Sue Moyer, deputy area manager for the Bureau of Reclamation agreed, stating that "in theory selenium and salts leached from new irrigation lands could reach the San Juan River; however the high quality of soils and high efficiently of the irrigation methods reduces concerns."

The DWCD board will hold a public hearing on March 8 to determine which farmers requesting the new water will receive it. The hearing begins at 2 p.m. in the Calvin Denton room at Empire Electric.