San Juan Chama Return Flow Project

San Juan Chama Return Flow Project

The United States (US) Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Albuquerque Area Office, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Taos Field Office, and US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (Forest Service), Santa Fe National Forest, is preparing an environmental assessment (EA) for the City of Santa Fe’s (City) proposed project to implement the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer (OSE) Permit (SP-4842-RFP) for the re-use of San Juan-Chama Project (SJCP) water by constructing and operating an 18-mile long pipeline to convey unconsumed reclaimed SJCP water from the City’s Paseo Real Water Reclamation Facility (PRWRF) to the Rio Grande river. The reclaimed SJCP water would be discharged directly into the Rio Grande downstream of the Buckman Direct Diversion (BDD) intake. The City would receive credit for discharged SJCP water, allowing it to divert an amount equal to the returned SJCP water into the BDD, with the intent of eventually fully consuming the City’s full entitlement of SJCP water.

Proposal

The City’s water supply consists of a combination of surface water from the Santa Fe River, groundwater from the Buckman wellfield, groundwater from the City wellfield, and imported SJCP surface water. The City has a contract with Reclamation that allows for 5,230 acre-feet per year (AFY) of SJCP water to be fully consumed. The SJCP is an inter basin water transfer project administered by Reclamation that supplies water from the greater Colorado River basin to the Rio Grande Basin, where it is diverted by the City at the BDD and treated at the Buckman Water Treatment Plant for drinking water. The BDD came online and began diverting SJCP water in 2011.

 The proposed project will implement the NM Office of the State Engineer Permit to re-use San Juan-Chama Project (SJCP) water by constructing and operating an 18-mile-long pipeline to convey unconsumed reclaimed SJCP water from the City’s Paseo Real Water Reclamation Facility (PRWRF) to the Rio Grande River. The reclaimed SJCP water would be discharged directly into the Rio Grande downstream of the Buckman Direct Diversion (BDD) intake.