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<br />, .-:. t . t <br /> <br />I. Executive Summary <br /> <br />Determination as to the availability of water under long-term service contracts for uses <br />from Navajo Reservoir involves a projection into the future of ~:stimated water uses and <br />water supplies. On the basis of this hydrologic investigation, water depletions by the <br />Upper Basin states from the Upper Colorado River Basin can be reasonably allowed to <br />rise to an annual average of 5.76 million acre-feet (mat) per year, exclusive of Colorado <br />River Storage Project (CRSP) reservoir evaporation from Lake Poweli, Flaming Gorge <br />Reservoir and the Aspinall Unit. This depletion lc~vel can be achieved under the same <br />shortage criteria upon which the allowable Upper Basin yield was determined in the 1988 <br />Hydrologic Determination. <br /> <br />This document determines the availability through at least 2060 of water from New <br />Mexico's Upper Basin allocation and Navajo Reservoir to service a proposed contract for <br />the Navajo Natiol1's cQnsmp,ptiye \lsel!l. in New Mexico under the Navajo:-GallupWa!er <br />Supply Project in the annual amount of 20,780 acre-feet (at) and the Navajo Jfndian <br />Irrigation Project (NIIP) in the amount of 270,000 af per year on average over any period. <br />of ten consecutive years. It also is likely that sufficient water will be available from <br />Navajo Reservoir to service. the proposed contract after the 2060 planning horizon, <br />depending upon future storage, hydrologic conditions and other factors. This <br />determination does not guarantee that the United States will be able to deliver water <br />under the proposed contract without shortages in deliveries, and does not obligate the <br />United States to maintain storage facilities beyond their useful lives. The proposed <br />contract is part of a Navajo Nation water rights s~~ttlement in the Upper Basin in New <br />Mexico, and the settlement provides that uses m:ade pursuant to the contract will be <br />subject to administration in accordance with the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact <br />and New Mexico state law. <br /> <br />II. Introduction <br /> <br />The State of New Mexico has proposed the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project to <br />provide a renewable water supply from the San Juan River for municipal and domestic <br />uses for Indian and non-Indian communities located within New Mexico. Uses under the <br />project by the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the City of Gallup would be supplied through <br />the Jicarilla Apache Nation's Navajo Reservoir water supply contract approved by <br />Congress in 1992. Uses in New Mexico under the project by the Navajo Nation would be <br />supplied through a proposed new Navajo Reservoir water supply contract that is a <br />component of the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico Navajo Nation Water Rights <br />Settlement Agreement (hereinafter referred to as th~~ Settlement Agreement) that the State <br />of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation executed on April 19, 2005. The new contract <br />also would supersede the existing Navajo Reservoir water supply contract for the Navajo <br />Indian Irrigation Project (NIIP). <br /> <br />The Upper Colorado River Commission on June 19,2003, resolved that the States of the <br />Upper Division consent to the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project provided that water <br /> <br />1 <br />