Click the link to read the article on The Durango Herald website (Reuben M. Schafir). Here’s an excerpt:
Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton visited the Pine River Indian Irrigation Project on Monday and announced $147.6 million in investments to 42 projects in 10 states facing water reliability challenges. The announcement included a $2.3 million grant to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe to address the PRIIP’s crumbling infrastructure. The funding is a part of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Watersmart Drought Resiliency program.
“For too long, the United States has failed to live up to its responsibility to adequately fund and maintain the Pine River Indian Irrigation Project,” Bennet said in a news release. “I was grateful to travel to Ignacio (Monday) with Commissioner Touton to welcome this investment to ensure the Southern Ute Indian Tribe can access the water it needs. There is much more work to be done, but this is a great start.”
The project uses water from Vallecito Reservoir, managed by the Pine River Irrigation District, to irrigate about 12,000 acres of land via 170 miles of ditches and raised flumes. Tribal officials have called the degradation of the infrastructure a “ticking time bomb,” and farmers and rancher dependent on the system are routinely shorted the water they need. According to a 2024 estimate reported by the Colorado Sun, PRIIP needs $35.3 million in repairs.