Laserfiche WebLink
Albuquerque Projects Office <br />San Juan -Chama Project <br />Background: The San Juan -Chama Project was authorized for <br />construction under a bill passed by Congress and signed into law <br />by the President on June 13, 1962. The project was authorized as <br />a participating project of the Colorado River Storage Project. <br />The project estimated annual firm yield is 96,200 acre -feet of <br />water from upper tributaries of the San Juan River in the Upper <br />Colorado River Basin. All water is diverted in Colorado from the <br />Blanco, Little Oso, and Oso Diversion Dams. The water is <br />brought through the Continental Divide in a tunnel system to the <br />Rio Grande Basin in New Mexico. Project water is used for <br />municipal, domestic, irrigation, industrial, fish and wildlife, <br />and recreational purposes. <br />A final Environmental Impact Statement for the project was <br />prepared in 1971. An interagency biological work group, <br />including Reclamation, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and <br />Wildlife, and the Colorado Division of Wildlife, was established <br />in 1971 to plan a 3 -year study (1972 -74) to assess the effects of <br />project diversions on the aquatic habitat of the Navajo River and <br />Rio Blanco in Colorado. An interim report was compiled in 1973 <br />summarizing the first year of study. <br />Priority: Low - Reconsultation for this project regarding newly <br />designated critical habitat was discussed briefly at the Inter - <br />Agency Coordination Meeting on August 25, 1994 with the Soil <br />Conservation Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Corps of <br />Engineers, and Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation). Jennifer <br />Fowler - Propst of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Albuquerque <br />Ecological Services Office mentioned that the Animas La -Plata <br />Project would probably have the highest priority and that the San <br />Juan -Chama project should have a much lower priority. Since this <br />is an already existing project with no planned change in <br />operation, a relatively low priority rating is probably <br />appropriate. <br />.F <br />