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<br /> <br /> <br />o <br /> <br />) <br />w <br />'"" <br />c.o <br />t,I.) <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />Piedra, Los Pinos, Animas, and La Plata <br />Rivers. The other main tributaries in <br />the basin are the Dirty Devil, Escalante, <br />and Paria Rivers, which drain a portion <br />of the eaStern slope of the Wasatch <br />Plateau In Utah. The reporting area <br />includes/lbout 38,600 square miles in <br />portions of Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, <br />and Colorado. <br /> <br />The larg~st towns are Durango and <br />Cortez iniColorado; Monticello and <br />Blanding in Utah; Farmington in New <br />Mexico;ahd Page in Arizona. <br /> <br />Mining and agriculture form the <br />economic base for the San Juan. <br />Colorado t;eporting area. The <br />agricultural development is similar to <br />that of the, Upper Main Stem with most <br />of the cropland devoted to livestock <br />feeds but With production of diversified <br />market crops on lands with favorable air <br />drainage. 1,he main market crops are <br />fruit, vegetables, and dry beans. Oil, <br />natural gas, and coal are the most <br />important I!1inerals produced. Thermal <br />electric power production is increasingly <br />important to the economy of the area, <br /> <br />Irrigation accounts for the largest use of <br />water, abou~ 78 percent of the San Juan <br />reporting area use exclusive of any <br />share ofmai;n stem evaporation. About <br />275,000 acres of land are irrigated in an <br />average year. <br /> <br />Lower Colorado River Basin <br /> <br />Main Stem \Below Lee Ferry, <br />Arlzona-Callfornla-Nevada <br /> <br />The Colorado River has a length of over <br />700 miles and a drainage area of <br /> <br />132,300 square miles within the Lower <br />Colorado River System in the United <br />States. The dividing point between the <br />Upper and Lower Basin is Lee Ferry. <br />Diversions are made at Lake Mead to <br />the rapidly expanding North Las Vegas. <br />Las Vegas-Henderson.Boulder City area <br />for municipal and industrial purposes. <br />The river below Lake Mead courses <br />through canyons and broad alluvial <br />valleys interspersed with bordering <br />groups of mountains, Lakes Mohave <br />and Havasu provide flood control and <br />regulatory storage below Lake Mead. <br />Lake Havasu also provides a forebay for <br />pumped diversion to the Central Arizona <br />Project (CAP) in Arizona and export to <br />the Metropolitan Water District of <br />, Southern California, Lake Mohave <br />reregulates Hoover Dam releases for <br />power production and for deliveries to <br />Mexico. Lesser structures downstream <br />include Senator Wash, Laguna, <br />Headgate Rock, Palo Verde, Imperial, <br />and Morelos Dams. Senator Wash and <br />Laguna Dams provide very limited <br />amounts of reregulation capacity while <br />the others are used principally for <br />diversion. <br /> <br /> <br />Diversions below Lake Mead for agricul. <br />ture, municipal and industrial, power, <br />export, and other purposes are of the <br />magnitude of 6 million acre.feet <br />annually. A portion of these diversions <br />is satisfied from upstream return flows. <br />Yuma and Lake Havasu City in Arizona <br />and Needles and Blythe in California <br />are the major cities along the main stem <br />below Lake Mead. Current irrigated <br />lands adjacent to the main stem are <br />estimated to cover approximately <br />275,000 acres. <br /> <br />I <br />