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.,4213 The Anlmas-La Plata project may be a deslrable element of any resolutlon of the reglon's water problems. But wlll not be a complete solutlon. , There stlll wlll be problems flndlng water de11very systems, payments of user fees, operatlons, and of course there 1 s stlll a blg questlon of when lt wlll be bullt and who wlll pay. The most lmmedlate problem ls how to pay for Anlmas-La Plata. The federal government clearly slgnaled its unwilllngness to bulld major water projects without cost sharlng by state and local govern- ments. We learned very recently that funding is lmpeded by new policies. not just by flscal constraints due to the tremendous deflcits that we have suffered under the Reagan Administration. The admlnlstrat10n has a newly developed pOl1cy on how Indian water rights cla1ms should be resolved. The policy requ1res some of the f1nancial burdens of settlement to be borne by local water users. Attorney General Duane Woodard has made some initlatives toward a resolutlon of the Indlan clalms short of golng to the mat to seek a litlgated concluslon. He recently wrote to the Sollcitor of the Department of the Interior suggestlng the posslblllty of a negotlated settlement of the water claims of Indlans and non-Indians in the San Juan Basin. Richardson wrote back that "an integral element of thls Adminlstratlon's water rlghts negotiation polley is that the state and local beneflciarles part1clpate ln the cost of settlement, and we remain wlll1ng to explore wlth you any cost-sharlng proposals for a settlement which lnclude the constructlon of the Animas-La Plata project or some alternative you may wish to present." - III -