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<br />16. Comment: <br /> <br />Response: <br /> <br />17. Comment: <br /> <br />Response: <br /> <br />18. Comment: <br /> <br />Response: <br /> <br />701 <br /> <br />What type of pre, during, and post set of studies are planning to be <br />conducted in order to evaluate the results of the test; who is providing the <br />quality control and peer review of the individual study plans; and who will <br />write up the results of the test and provide them to the public? <br />The final EA, including this Consultation and Coordination section, <br />provide more explanation of what type of pre, during, and post studies will <br />be conducted. Individual study plans have been reviewed within <br />Reclamation and with Cooperating agencies. Reclamation will write the <br />results of the test and make the results available to the public. <br /> <br />Monitoring should include water quality, fish habitat, macro invertebrates, <br />and water temperature. <br />The duration of the test will be short and the data that is to be collected <br />has been prioritized. It is likely not all of the infonnation that <br />Reclamation would like to have can be realistically collected during the <br />test. Nevertheless, Reclamation anticipates the infonnation collected can <br />be applied to better understand the potential effects of the long-tenn <br />reduced summer flow below the dam. Water quality, water temperatures <br />and physical data will be collected. Reductions in wetted area will be <br />identified that will be used to infer impacts to macro invertebrate <br />populations. Reclamation has infonnation pertaining to reductions in <br />useable trout habitat within the Quality Waters section associated with a <br />250 cfs release. (The Quality Waters section is identified by the New <br />Mexico Game and Fish Department as the first 4 miles of the fishery <br />downstream from the dam.) Downstreamfrom this point, this infonnation <br />does not currently exist. During the proposed test, this portion of the river <br />will be evaluated in tenns of physical changes to include changes in <br />wetted perimeter and depth. The infonnation obtained will be used to <br />infer impacts to fish habitat. <br /> <br />What specific plans exist to determine the return flow or recharge of the <br />stream from irrigation water and to determine the quality of the return <br />flow. <br />For this short test duration, actual retumflows will not be sampled, but <br />the river itself will be sampled at Archuleta, Blanco, Bloomfield, and <br />Farmington. Additional samples may be taken between Archuleta and <br />Bloomfield depending on sampling times from the BIA contractor. The <br />return flows may be sampled/studied in the future, but pennission and <br />access is needed from the individual irrigation companies before sampling <br />could occur. <br /> <br />Returnflows resulting from ground water drain-out of irrigation will not <br />be measured. The more significant canal operation wastes will be <br /> <br />15 <br />