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<br />OOQ1j~ <br /> <br />DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, <br />BUREAU 01<' RECLAMATION, REGION 5, <br />Amarillo, Tex., July 1212, 1963. <br /> <br />To: Commissioner, "Tashington, D.C. <br />From: Regional Director. <br />Subject: Plan of development of Closed Basin division, San Luis <br />V alley project, Colorado. <br /> <br />This letter, with its supporting reports, constitutes my report on the <br />Closed Basin division, San Luis Valley project, Colorado. :Nly report <br />has been prepared under the general authority of Federal reclamation <br />laws (uct of June 17,1902,32 Stat. 388, and acts amendatory thereof <br />or supplementary thereto) and under the specific authority of the <br />Interior Appropriations Act of 1941 (act of June 18, 1940, eh. 395, <br />54 Stat. 406). <br />:My report is transmitted as the basis for securing congressional <br />authorization of the plan of development for the Closed Basin division <br />of the SaIl Luis Vulley project, Colorudo, described herein, and con- <br />struction of the water salvage nnd related works contemplated by the <br />plan. The plan would salvage for beneficial use an average of 101,700 <br />acre-feet of water 8nnunlly, which is now being lost by eVt\poration or <br />consumed by salt grass, rabbit brush, grensewood, and other vegeta- <br />tion. It would permit delivery of additional Rio Grande flows to the <br />States of New ~Iexico and Texas in accordance with the provisions of the <br />Rio Grande compact, provide for the establishment of two national <br />wildlife refuges for preservation llnd propagation of wildlife, and provide <br />for development of available fishing and recreational opportunities. <br />The completion of the investigations on which this report is based was <br />facilitated by the contribution of funds therefor by the State of Co\o- <br />rado and the Snn Lui:; Valley 'Vater Conservancy District. <br />The Rio Grande compact, which prO\"ides for npportionment of the <br />flows of the Rio Grande nmong the concerned States, recognized the <br />potentialities for delivery of Closed Basin wa~ers to the Rio Grande <br />and provides that Colorado shall be credited with the nmount of such <br />water delivered to the compact station at Lobatos if the proportion of <br />sodium io'ns in the salvaged water shall be less than 45 percent of the <br />total positive ions when the total dissoh-ed solids in such water exceeds <br />350 parts per million. <br />Expanding water uses in the Rio Grunde Ba..",in, recent occurrence <br />of un extreme and protracted drought, llnd the incrensingly odverse <br />debit status of Colorado under the Rio Grunde COmpl\ct nil emphasize <br />the need for optimum ~nlvl1ge of nonbeneficial1y consumed waters in <br />the Sltn Luis Valley. <br />The Bureau of~Reclnmlltion in 1955 completed a supplemental <br />report on n re~en'oir nt the \r ngon "~heel Gnp site on the Rio Grnnde. <br />This report renffirms u predous findin.f' that construction of u regen'oir <br />at the site was merited to pro,'ide needed supplemental and regulated <br /> <br />(43) <br /> <br />41-.180--10---1 <br />