The Stewart Ditch and Reservoir Company’s Piping Project

The Stewart Ditch and Reservoir Company’s Piping Project

The Stewart Ditch and Reservoir Company (SDRC) is a Colorado-based agricultural water provider serving 235 shareholders. It recently completed a project, funded mainly by a Bureau of Reclamation grant, to pipe a portion of its historic ditch with pipe manufactured by Diamond Plastics. In this interview, SDRC President Karl Burns tells Irrigation Leader about the project and the benefits it will bring.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

Karl Burns: My family moved to the Paonia, Colorado, area in 1970. In 1990, I bought my ranch, which is just up the road from my mom’s ranch. When I bought the property, I ended up getting elected to the board of the SDRC. After a year, I was elected to serve as its president, and I’ve served in this position for 30 years.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the SDRC.

Karl Burns: The SDRC was incorporated in 1898. There are 235 shareholders. Most of the water is used for irrigation purposes, but some shareholders just water a yard and garden. Most of the water is used on fruit trees, hay, or grain crops.

Irrigation Leader: Have you been using the same ditch since 1898?

Karl Burns: Yes, the ditch is still the original takeout from the river. The ditch has long been an important part of the local economy. We hold the third-oldest water right on the North Fork of the Gunnison River.

Irrigation Leader: What irrigation techniques do your water users use?

Karl Burns: A lot of people use drip systems. There are close to 500 hundred acres under sprinklers, now that we’ve started piping the ditch. A lot of users still use furrow irrigation or gated pipe.

Irrigation Leader: What is the source of your water?

Karl Burns: The water comes out of the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Ultimately, it comes from snowpack runoff.

Irrigation Leader: How much storage do you have in your system?

Karl Burns: We have no storage. We own a small share of a lake, but we leased that to the mines in the early 1980s for augmentation water. Right now, that water is still being used under that agreement.

Pipe manufactured by Diamond Plastics being installed in the SDRC’s system.

Irrigation Leader: What was the motivation behind starting your current piping project?

Karl Burns: We had a lot of infrastructure on our ditch that was in need of repair. I heard that the Bureau of Reclamation had a salinity program, and because Reclamation had done a salt study in our area, we met the requirements to apply. Our first-round funding application was tied to approximately 13 miles of open ditch. The second round of funding involved an additional 3 miles of pipe, all of which is 48 inches in diameter. The main motivation between the piping project was to eliminate the water loss associated with open-ditch systems. It gives us more control over our supply. Under drought conditions like we experienced last summer, we are better able to deliver water to our users, even when the supply is less than normal. The new pipe has transformed our ability to meet the needs of shareholders by ensuring that we are getting water to the end of the ditch, where it otherwise may not have reached.

Karl Burns and Bill Pecharich on the construction site.

Irrigation Leader: At the end of the project, is the full canal going to be piped?

Karl Burns: We would like to think that someday, we’ll get the whole ditch piped. We still have approximately 9 miles of ditch to pipe, so you can understand that it will require a significant commitment of financial resources.

Irrigation Leader: Is the pipe pressurized?

Karl Burns: Yes.

Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about the factors that went into your choice of the material and the manufacturer of the pipe?

Karl Burns: A combination of factors led to our final selection. We looked at the sorts of materials that would best work for this application, we looked at the site itself, and then we considered our budget. Staying within our budget was really the overriding consideration.

Irrigation Leader: Were there any concerns about soil type?

Karl Burns: Certainly, considering the soil type was one of the many factors that went into our decisionmaking. Ultimately, we are confident that the product we selected will withstand the variables associated with our application.

Irrigation Leader: What is Reclamation’s role in this project?

Karl Burns: Reclamation manages the salinity funding program, which also includes habitat replacement, oversight of how the money is spent, and project design. The majority of the funding for this project comes from a grant from Reclamation, specifically through the Colorado Salinity Control Basin Funding Initiative. This program is focused on the Colorado River and the salt studies that have been done throughout the basin. It particularly monitors the salinity in Utah. The underlying intention is to reduce the salt load in the Colorado River. Subsequently, Reclamation has developed programs such as the one we used, which are designed to help irrigation users pipe their ditches. The goal is for users to subsequently switch to sprinklers and drip irrigation, which will also help decrease the amount of salt going back to the river.

Irrigation Leader: When was the project completed?

Karl Burns: At the end of 2020.

Irrigation Leader: What is your vision for the future of the SDRC?

Karl Burns: As everyone knows, the water we provide is extremely valuable. It looks like the West is moving toward a long-term drought, so we must be as efficient with this water as we can be. This scarcity has led virtually every segment of the water industry to look for new supply sources, and today a great many are leaning heavily toward trying to buy up agricultural water rights. Agriculture plays a critical role in a sustainable community, since you need land and water for crops, livestock, and produce. We must keep finding ways to stretch our water as far as we can so that it meets everyone’s needs. It is a challenge for all water users to make the wisest and best choices for managing their water. IL

Karl Burns is the president of the Stewart Ditch and Reservoir Company. He can be reached at kandjburnsranch@paonia.com.