There are real challenges facing the San Luis Valley.
Yet the San Luis Valley holds the solution to these challenges.
The Valley sits on top of a vast, ocean-like aquifer. This aquifer is one of the largest in the United States and divided into two sections.
The largest section stores one-billion acre-feet of renewable water. An acre-foot is the amount of water that would fill an acre one foot deep, or enough water to meet the annual needs of two Colorado households. Given the Valley’s desert-like appearance, the fact that this much water lies beneath the Valley’s floor goes widely unknown and unnoticed.
Within this gigantic aquifer, a small section of the aquifer is shallow. Renewable Water Resources has found a solution to use the larger aquifer to help the smaller aquifer. This is crucial as the smaller aquifer is the principal water source irrigating the Valley’s agriculture industry, which accounts for about 95 percent of the overall local economy. The smaller aquifer must get to sustainable levels as it is the lifeline for the Valley.
The potential of this large aquifer is so pronounced that it can also solve the Valley’s other pressing challenges. It can enrich the local economy, bring more jobs to the area, support essential non-profits and community groups, and improve the health of the area’s aquatic habits and wildlife. When people learn about the full project, local support climbs to more than 42 percent.