Groundwater Recharge to Support Wildlife and Water Users: The Heyborne Ponds Project, Sedgwick County, Colorado

Abstract

The Heyborne Ponds Recharge Project is a multibenefit project that simultaneously seeks to promote wildlife conservation, to address threatened and endangered species recovery, to support recreation, and to facilitate water availability for agriculture. The project delivers water from the South Platte River to recharge ponds to provide habitat for migrating birds while concurrently providing a mechanism for water to infiltrate into the alluvial aquifer and return to the river at a later time. This temporal shift in the timing of flows in the river provides several benefits. Under Colorado law, groundwater users can pump out of priority only if they augment surface water flows. Further, Colorado has interstate commitments to augmenting downstream flows in the Platte River. Multiple-benefit projects such as Heyborne Ponds represent an untapped opportunity for diverse interests to work together in implementing managed aquifer recharge.