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STATE OF COLORADO <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 721 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866 -3441 <br />Fax: (303) 866 -4474 <br />www.cwcb.state.co.us <br />TO: Colorado Water Conservation Board Members <br />FROM: Jennifer Gimbel, Director, CWCB <br />Tim Feehan, P.E., Chief, Finance Section <br />Ted Kowalski, Water Supply Protection Section <br />DATE: March 25, 2010 <br />SUBJECT: March 29, 2010 — Special Telephonic Board Meeting <br />Water Supply Planning and Finance Section <br />Animas -La Plata Project Water <br />Bill Ritter, Jr. <br />Governor <br />James B. Martin <br />DNR Executive Director <br />Jennifer L. Gimbel <br />CWCB Director <br />Dan McAuliffe <br />CWCB Deputy Director <br />Background <br />The Animas-La Plata Project (A -LP) is a water project located in southwestern Colorado and <br />northwestern New Mexico, planned and constructed to fulfill the water rights settlement of the two <br />Indian tribes that are federally recognized within Colorado, the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern <br />Ute. <br />The A -LP Project has been a subject of congressionally funded studies, public debate, and <br />congressional action and inaction for nearly four decades. The original congressional authorization <br />for the United States Bureau of Reclamation project came in 1956 under the Colorado River <br />Storage Project Act and was authorized for construction in 1968 under the Colorado River Basin <br />Act. The original concept consisted of three reservoirs and 48 miles of canal that would deliver <br />191,200 acre -feet of water from the Animas Basin to the La -Plata Basin for irrigation purposes. It <br />wasn't until twelve years later in 1980 that the environmental impact statement was approved and <br />released for the A -LP Project. In 1986, the Agreement in Principle Concerning the Colorado Ute <br />Indian Water Rights Settlement and Binding Agreement for Animas- LaPlata Cost Sharing (1986 <br />Agreement) was executed and included the construction of the A -LP as part of the federal reserved <br />water rights settlement for the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Tribes. The AL -P Project was <br />scheduled to commence construction in the 1990's, but was delayed due to a lawsuit that was filed <br />regarding environmental compliance issues. In 1998, the Department of the Interior issued a <br />recommendation for a substantially scaled -down project, designed primarily to satisfy Native <br />American water rights, address municipal and industrial needs in the immediate area, and to reduce <br />environmental impacts. The scaled down version of the project was dubbed "ALP Lite" and this <br />resulted in the removal of the irrigation component of A -LP Project. <br />Water Supply Protection • Watershed Protection & Flood Mitigation • Stream & Lake Protection • Water Supply Planning & Finance <br />Water Conservation & Drought Planning • Intrastate Water Management & Development <br />