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359'7 6 In addition to providing a reliable supply oE water, the Project is designed to fulfill the following objectives and responsibilities: 1. To ~uild the Project witll absolutely mirlimllm adverse social and econo~ic efrect, 2. Without damage to the environment, 3. Without damage to important archeological .qnd historic sites, */ 4. To enhance recreational opportunities, and 5. ro provide wildlife benefits. The Pro.~ect is designed to salvage water presently being lost to evapora- tive processes fro~ the Closed Basin ar~a of the northern Valley. Thus, the primary means of securin?, wat~r without affecting hi~toric use is for the Project to tap into a source of ~ater which is not beinR beneficially used. rhe Project design calls for a network of between 150 and 180 shallow wells spread out over an area of 13U,000 acres (less than I well per section of land on the average). rhe 130,000 acres within the formal Project boun- daries consist of the sump area of the Closed Basin. This area is the lowest point in the Valley other than the bed of the Rio Grande itself. Water which reaches this part of the Valley, either on or below the sur- face, has quite literally no place to go but up. ~ost of the water which reache!:i the Closed Basin sump COI:les from the Sangre de Cristos on the east side of the Valley. rhe Project salvage well system does not depend on the very small amount of water which flows through the developed farmland to the west of the Project area. The salvage well system is designed so that it cannot "suck the water out from belo\,,''' the lands surrounding the Project. rhe law authorizing the Project (Public Law 92-514) provides further assurance that effects to historic local water use will ~e inconsequential. By lav, the Project wells cannot tap i~to the first widespread artesiall aq~ifer. At a depth between 90 and several hundred feet below the surface of the whole Valley floor, layers of impermeable clay seal off an enormous reserve of wat~r. When a pi~e (an artesian well) is inserted into the lower levels, the pressure causes water to flow naturally to the surface. Some of the first artesian \olelIs \/hich \lere drilled in the Valley sent ~eysers of water over 50 feet in the air. The thousands of artesian wells which have been dri lIed since then have' relieved so rJuch oE the pressure on the artesian aquifer that many Valley artesian \"Tells flow less and in sOr.le cases no longer flow at all. Because the artesian aquifer is of such great importance to the econo~y of the Valley and because a new artesian well can affect the flow of older artesian wells miles away, the Project is pre- vented by law fro~ contributinr, to the problem by tapping into the artesian aquifer (for more details concerning this question see section VI and questions 2 and 3). */One could perhaps object to items 2 a~d 3. rhe Project is designed to minimi~e disruption of the environment and archeological sites. Mitigation pro- cedures are planned for those minimal effects. The net result will ~e no damage.