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.. .. IN REPLY REFe::RTO: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF RECLAMATION Poet Office Box 640 Durango, Colorado June 11, 1952 To: Regional Director From: Area Engineer, Durango, Colorado Subje ct : Sm tue Report on Inve st iga t ions of Potent ial South fun Juan Project, New Me~:ico, and Potential Upstream Hydropower in San Juan River Di:'ainage Submitted herewith is the subject report presenting information and findings of the preliminary investigations l1'ade to date. The report is intenq.ed to serve the Bureau of Reclamation as a guide in programming further work on project investigations and to aid New Mexico and Colorado State officials and other interests in appraising and selecting plans for developtlent of the available San Juan River water resources, As indicated by the estimated benefits and costs of the various project sizes and plans of development investigated, the South San Juan' project, with the exception of Plan A, would be economically justified. Cotlpletion of a detailed project investigation thus would be warranted. The size and plan of development for this project, hCMever, are yet to be selected by State and other interests as p9.rt of the broader problem of selecting projects for the utilization of San Juan River waters. Until such selections are ~ade, detailed investigations of the South San Juan ;project cannot be intelligently programmed. Reasonably firm selections at an early date are therefore desirable. The cursory study made to evaluate the potential hydroelectric power in the San Juan River Basin, upstream from Navajo Reservoir site, indicates ,a cost of about 10 mills per kilowatt.,hour fo-.(' production of approximately 550,000,000 kilowatt-hours of firm salable energy measured at an assumed interconnecting point near Navajo Dam site on San Juan River. Cursory studies of alternative possibilities of producing equiva.~ lent ,power indicate a cost of about 8 mills per kilowatt-hour for fuel- electric generation and an average cost of about 5.5 mills per kilowatt~ hour for h~oelectric generation by the potential Colorado River Storage project. 'Therefore, the development of firm energy at the upstream hydroelectric sites in the San Juan River Basin would not be justified in the near future. Possible modifications of the, plans to produce pealc- rug hydroelectric power at these sites as well as firm power have not been studied, Such studies could well be made in the future in the event that no transmountain diversions were made by the potential San Juan- Chama project. /s/ William F. Crabtree , i,