Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Conchas Lake is the source of irrigation water for the Arch Hurley Conservancy District. The lake has maintained enough elevation to allow the Arch Hurley board on Tuesday to authorize an allocation of water to district customers for a second consecutive year, after three years of no allocation due to insufficient water in the lake.
link Conchas Lake is the source of irrigation water for the Arch Hurley
Conservancy District. The lake has maintained enough elevation
to allow the Arch Hurley board on Tuesday to authorize an allocation
of water to district customers for a second consecutive year,
after three years of no allocation due to insufficient water in the lake.
Staff Report
Arch Hurley Conservancy district irrigation customers will start receiving six inches of water per acre this growing season as soon as the district receives orders enough to sustain water flow of 40 feet per second for three days, the district’s board decided Tuesday.
The board also agreed that it will adjust allocations up or down as needed during the season for the 43,000 acres served by the district’s irrigation channels from Conchas Lake. Increases or decreases will depend on rain or snow activity, the board decided.
In addition, the board gave district manager Franklin McCasland authority to shut down the water flow to save water in case of rain storms or for safety or other reasons.
McCasland noted that the lake’s elevation, 4177.23 feet above sea level on Tuesday, is a foot below its level last March, when the district allowed the first allocations in four years. In the previous three years, the lake’s level had been too low to allow Arch Hurley allocations.
This year, McCasland said, rain and snow falls in the northern areas that drain into Conchas Lake have not been as large or as well-timed as they were last year.
