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<br />of Durango. In addition to storing a portion of Durango's municipal <br />and industrial water, Ridges Basin Reservoir would provide storag~ for <br />New Mexico municipal and industrial water, the Ute Mountain Ute Indian <br />Tribe's industrial and irrigation water, and irrigation water for tqe <br />Colorado irrigators. Municipal and industrial.water for Farmington and <br />Aztec wouid be supplied from the Animas River and supplemented by <br />releases from Ridges Basin Reservoir when direct flow was insuffici~nt. <br /> <br />The .Ridges:. Basin pumping plant would pump water from the reservoir into <br />Ridges Basin Canal, which would then convey the water to the La Plata <br />River drainage, Ridges Basin Canal would provide all of the irrigation <br />water from Red Mesa and a base flow for the Dry Side area. The Dry Side <br />Canal would extend westward from Hay Gulch and would serve all of the <br />Dry Side area with flows from Ridges Basin Canal, except during July <br />and Augu~t, when releases would be needed from Hay Gulch Reservoir to <br />supplement the flows from Ridges Basin Canal. Hay Gulch Reservoir <br />would store excess La Plata River flows. The La Plata Diversion Dam <br />and Canal would divert water to Hay Gulch. <br /> <br />The Lower Animas Canal would be located about four miles below the <br />Durango pumping plant and would divert water from the Animas River by <br />gravity to Southern Ute Reservoir. This water would be used for indus- <br />trial purposes on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation and for irrigation <br />in New Mexico. The Lower Animas Canal would irrigate by gr?vity the <br />Southern Ute Indian lands near the reservoir. Irrigation water for <br />the New Mexico lands would be conveyed from the Southern Ute Reservoir <br />by the New Mexico Irrigation Canal. Sprinkler irrigation would be <br />provided to the Third Terrace and Tunnel Ditch areas of New Mexico. <br />Pressure in most of these two areas would be provided by the slope of <br />the ground; only One small pumping plant would be required to supply <br />pressure for part of the Third Terrace area. <br /> <br />The proposed Animas power plant would generate power to be used along <br />with supplemental purchases from CRSP to provide power for project <br />pumping. Animas River flows would be diverted from the river channel <br />into a l,750-cfs capacity tunnel; a minimum 50-cfs bypass has been <br />assumed as necessary in all current studies. The tunnel inlet would be <br />located on the first sharp bend south of the Tacoma power plant. The <br />tunnel would convey water from the inlet to a penstock, which would <br />lead to the power plant. The power plant would be recessed in the <br />canyon wall so that it would not detract from the area's scenery. <br /> <br />Sprinkler irrigation is planned for all project areas except the La <br />Plata, New Mexico area; the La Plata, Colorado area above Ridges Basin <br />Canal; and the Southern Ute Indian lands around Southern Ute Reservoir. I <br />The lateral systems would provide sprinkler pressure of 45 to 100 psi <br />at the farm turnouts. Pumping plants would provide this pressure where <br />the ground slope was insufficient to pressurize the pipeline. Project <br />drainage also would be provided. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Fisheries would be created in the inactive pool of project reservoirs <br />and recreational facilities would be provided at each reservoir. A <br />mibimum stream bypass of 100 cfs is planned below both the Durango <br /> <br />-18- <br />