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<br />, <br /> <br />utilized on a daily basis over a long and tortuous road. Both the <br />~outhern Ute tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute tribe have a substantial <br />amount of land which could produce considerable feed for their livestock <br />if water could be made available. Both reservations also contain <br />significant coal deposits. The Animas-La Plata and Dolores projects <br />are designed to furnish both tribes with sufficient water supplies to <br />take care of their domestic, irrigation and industrial needs. The <br />eventual construction of these projects will be a test as to whether or <br />not the federal government is serious in its many pronouncements of <br />providing better economic opportunities for the various Indian tribes. <br /> <br />In addition to the developing Indian resources, the project will <br />make water available to the nonlndian population for substantial indus- <br />trial development, for municipal and rural domestic uses and for the <br />production of better crops. Aside from the valley floor of the San <br />Luis Valley, the southwestern portion of the state is the most arid in <br />Colorado. dowever, the lands there are generally of high quality and <br />will produce abundantly with irri[ation. In large segments of the <br />rural areas, the residents now haul their domestic water from distant <br />sources and store it in home cisterns. The project is in an area of <br />fairly high unemployment and depressed incomes. <br /> <br />The Animas-La Plata project is one of those which has been caught <br />up in the process of continuin.; and calculated delay. At the time <br />t~~ project was authorized, it was represented to Congress that pre- <br />construction planning could be completed in three years. Almost ten <br />years have gone by now and the planning process is still under way, <br />although it is now represented that the process will be completed next <br />year (1979). That being the case, there is no valid reaSon why con- <br />struction should not start next year. <br /> <br />The President's recommended budget contains the sum of $300,000 <br />to continue the planning process, but nothing for construction. Ten <br />years of preconstruction planning is enough for any reclamation project. <br />~e far more complex billion dollar Central Arizona project took less ' <br />than half that time before construction was initiated. The Bureau of <br />po~lamation has a construction capability to expend $500,O~O durinti <br />F.Y. lS7S. It is therefore the staff recommendation that the board <br />request the Governor and Colorado's congressional delegation to seek <br />n F.Y. 1979 construction appropriation of $500,OOC for the Animas- <br />La Plata project, in addition to the President's recommendation of <br />$30C,COC for advance planning, as Colorado's third priority. <br /> <br />FLS:mm <br /> <br />-6- <br />