UAWP member organizations identified the Sunnyside Ditch as an opportunity to build and improve relationships within both the agricultural and Chaffee County communities while also improving irrigation water efficiency of one of the county’s oldest ditches.

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The Sunnyside Park Ditch serves 17 shareholders including several large ranches irrigating 780 acres and impacting over 10,000 acres of land. It runs parallel to the Arkansas River for two miles, through two growing housing developments, and is clearly visible from two major highways making it a highly visible demonstration site. 

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The ditch is in need of improvements to increase water transport efficiency and serve the irrigators more effectively. Hand dug in the late 1800s, the ditch leaks and is increasingly difficult to maintain due to the growing number of housing developments along the ditch.

 

The majority of ditch shareholders have been working together to find solutions and have collaborated on grant writing, feasibility planning, and community outreach. 

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In 2023, led by the Upper Arkansas Conservation District and the Central Colorado Conservancy, the UAWP completed the Sunnyside Ditch Rehabilitation Demonstration Project by installing 2,800 feet of 42 inch pipe, building water control structures, and reseeding disturbed areas to rehabilitate a stretch of the ditch that runs just above the Arkansas River.

 

This project serves as an example of collaborative problem solving and may be replicated along additional sections of the Sunnyside Ditch as well as other ditch systems throughout the Upper Arkansas River Watershed.