WSP13031

• File Number: 8240.200.10.A
• Description: Upper Colorado River
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 7/28/1999
• Author: UCRC Workgroup
• Title: Case Study on the Upper Colorado River Basin
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

quantification of the Tribes' outstanding reserved water rights claims. This resulted in the
Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights "Final Settlement Agreement" of December 10, 1986.
Portions of that Agreement were ratified by Congress in sections 2(5) and 11 of the Colorado Ute
Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 1988, Public Law 100-585. Pursuant to the terms of the
Final Settlement Agreement and the 1988 Act, the Tribes' water rights were quantified in the
Colorado Water Court by consent decrees entered on December 19, 1991. Water rights for
existing uses of water in all drainages within the two Tribes' Reservations were recognized, with
a March 2, 1868 priority date.

On the Animas and La Plata Rivers, the water rights of the two Tribes were quantified through
Tribal participation in the proposed Animas-La Plata Project (ALP). The Ute Mountain Utes
were adjudicated water rights of 6,000 acre-feet per year (afy) of municipal and industrial water,
26,300 afy of agricultural irrigation water in Colorado, and 900 afy of agricultural irrigation
water in New Mexico, all to be supplied from the ALP. The Southern Utes were adjudicated a
water right, to be supplied from ALP, of26,500 afy of municipal and industrial water, and 3,400
afy irrigation water.

The ALP, located in La Plata County in southwestern Colorado, was authorized by the Colorado
River Basin Project Act of September 30, 1968 (public Law 90-537, CRBP A) as a participating
project under the 1956 Colorado River Storage Project Act (CRSP). The ALP, as described in
the 1980 Definite Plan Report, was to store water pumped from the Animas River in Ridges
Basin Reservoir for irrigation, municipal, and industrial purposes, fish and wildlife preservation,
and recreation facilities, and would store water diverted from the La Plata and Animas Rivers in
Southern Ute Reservoir. Construction of the ALP was also tied to a 1986 cost-sharing agreement
between the Department of the Interior and the States of Colorado and New Mexico.

Under the Ute Settlement Agreement and 1988 Settlement Act, water rights were also recognized
for the Southern Utes for future domestic and livestock wells, for oil and gas development, and
for road construction and maintenance. The Ute Mountain Utes received a similar award. On
the Mancos River the Ute Mountain Utes were adjudicated a water right for direct flow and/or
storage of21,000 acre-feet for irrigation of 7,200 acres of tribal lands, with an 1868 priority date
subordinated to pre-1985 adjudicated rights. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe also received 4,800
acre-feet in Navajo Wash. In addition, the Settlement Agreement and decree resolved the
Southern Ute Indian Tribe's reserved water rights claims on the Florida, Piedra, and San Juan
Rivers and several other streams that cross the Tribe's reservations.

Besides quantifying the two Tribes' water rights, the 1988 Settlement Act provided for $60
million in development funds for water resource development other than ALP. The State of
Colorado agreed to build the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe a domestic water pipeline. And the Tribe
received 25,100 acre-feet per year from McPhee Reservoir, a Bureau of Reclamation facility of
the Dolores Project located near Dolores, Colorado, to resolve the Tribe's reserved water rights
claims on the Mancos River.

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