Headwaters Fall 2004

• Year: 2004
• Title: Headwaters
• Author: Colorado Foundation for Water Education
• Description: Fall 2004 - Focus on Southwestern Colorado
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

PFI),E CT BE NE FIC IAN E S
Southern Ute Tribe
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
San Juan Water Commission, NM
State of Colorado
Animas -La Plata Water Conservancy
District
Navajo Nation
La Plata Water Conservancy District
Subtotal
Allowance for evaporation
TOTAL
CONSUMPTIVE USE1
(ACRE - FEET /YEAR)
Consumptive use is water permanently
withdrawn from the system and no longer
available because it has evaporated, or been
consumed by thirsty humans or crops.
16,525
16,525
10,400
5,230
2,600
i Also referred to as "depletions." 2 Also
• 1972 Colorado Ute tribes sue
for their federal reserved
water rights, dating back to
1868. Their claims potential-
ly involve as much as 93,000
acre -feet of water in seven
rivers, including the Animas,
Mancos, and La Plata.
ma
• 1968 Congress authorizes ALP
Project as an amendment to the
1956 Colorado River Storage
Project Act. The original proj-
ect would have supplied some
191,200 acre -feet annually for
agricultural irrigation, domestic
and industrial use.
2,340
780
54,400
2,700
57,100
to as "water supply."
• 1988 Congress signs the
Colorado Ute Indian Water
Rights Settlement Act, assign-
ing 62,000 acre -feet of water
in ALP to the Ute Mountain
Ute and Southern Ute tribes
as settlement for their water
rights claims on the Animas
and La Plata rivers.
„
Water Delivered2
(Acre-feet/year)
Amount of stored water in Ridges
Basin Reservoir available for delivery
for municipal, industrial, tribal,
recreation or fisheries purposes.
33,050
33,050
20,800
10,460
5,200
4,680
1,560
108,800
108,800
• 1992 Sierra Club Legal Defense
Fund and other environmen-
tal organizations sue to halt
construction. judge issues
a preliminary injunction to
stop ALP until the 1980 El8
can be updated.
= �MW.VML_
• 1991 U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) issues a
Final Biological Opinion stat-
ing that in order to protect
'• 1980 Bureau of Reclamation
releases the first Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) for the
project.
the endangered Colorado
pikeminnow, depletions
from the Animas River must
be limited to 57,100 acre -
feet annually. Feds agree to
construct only certain parts
of ALP until a 7 -year study
of the flow requirements
for endangered fish can be
completed, and the 1980 EIS
updated. This opinion allows
certain aspects of project
construction to begin.
B COLORADO FOUNDATION FOR WATER EDUCATION
• 1996 Bureau of Reclamation
releases a final supplement to
the final EIS, confirming the
flow recommendations for
endangered fish.