Echo Ditch Infrastructure Improvement Project
The Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership (WEP), in coordination with the Echo Ditch Company, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), and the San Juan National Forest (SJNF), is advancing the Echo Ditch Infrastructure Improvement Project on the Rito Blanco, a tributary of the Rio Blanco within the Upper San Juan River watershed.
WEP has worked with partners and Southwest River Engineering to develop final engineering designs for the project, which will improve agricultural diversion infrastructure in support of both agricultural and environmental values in the watershed.
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All about the Echo Ditch Project
The Project was originally identified and prioritized through WEP’s Integrated Water Management Plan (IWMP), which highlighted opportunities to address aging agricultural infrastructure while achieving multiple watershed benefits. Early in the process, the San Juan Conservation District played a key role in connecting WEP with Echo Ditch representatives, helping establish a collaborative partnership that has guided the Project’s development to date.
The Echo Ditch diverts senior irrigation water rights including significant pre-compact water rights, and 280 shares serves 16 shareholders with a total of approximately 1300 acres under irrigation. Improved infrastructure will benefit diversion efficiency and reliability for Echo Ditch shareholders while reducing operations and maintenance costs associated with their current infrastructure. Headgate automation will further reduce operating costs, improve water management, and support long-term agricultural viability in the Rio Blanco Basin.
A central component of the project is that the new diversion structure will serve as a complete barrier to fish passage on the Rito Blanco. This grouted rock fish barrier will help isolate habitat upstream of the diversion structure in furtherance of planned USFS/CPW fisheries reclamation efforts focused on San Juan lineage cutthroat trout, supporting USFS/CPW fisheries management priorities. Design and engineering work are now complete, and this project is shovel ready pending funding and permitting.
This is a very unique opportunity to protect genetically pure cutthroat populations upstream of the diversion while providing real agricultural benefits.
WEP and its partners are working with Southwest River Engineering to refine the Project’s budget for the construction phase. Total cost is currently estimated at $436,000.00
WEP and its partners are actively pursuing funding to support construction in the fall of 2027, including from the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s Water Plan Grant Program in the agricultural project category. Project partners are exploring additional funding sources (including but not limited to opportunities through NRCS, CPW, and private sources) to identify and secure complementary funds for the Project’s construction.
Echo Ditch Infrastructure Improvement Project FAQs
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