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<br />00 '\. ~oo <br />. 1lI11""~"D1"IIIIIIJII"nll"I"""I/JIII/"JIJ1"ll11m <br /> <br /> <br />nr Illffll~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIfIWlfllll""lla~'IIII"11 <br /> <br />i OV~rrlinS: 'Thereis' <br />extreme need for water' <br /> <br />Continued from 4A <br />The project will pump water up <br />trom the Animas River to a <br />120,000-acre-foot reservoir near Du- <br />rango. Water in the reseIVoir will <br />supply the cities and store water for <br /> <br />., <br />\ <br /> <br />future use by the Indian tribes. <br />Congress has appropliated $134 <br />million since 2000 for the project. <br />When the jump in costs was dis- <br />covered this year, Interior Secre- <br />tary Gale Norton, who oversees the <br />bureau, demanded a report on the <br />ovemms. Norton has oversight on <br />bureau projects. <br />In fact, Keys said someone at the <br />bureau spotted the problems in <br />1999, but no cost feviewwas done. <br />When the $162 million mistake <br />was reported this year, the bureau <br />flrst blamed the ute Mountain Ute <br />contractor, Weeminuche Construc- <br />tion. <br />The bure-au later apolOgized to <br />Weerninuche, the Ute Mountain <br />Utes and the Southern Utes, who <br />are also involved in the project. <br />Funding for the project required <br />the Bureau of Reclamation to use <br />an Indian firm for construction, <br />rather than offering the project for <br />bids. <br />The overruns attributed' to <br />Weerninuche were about $42 mil- <br />lion, Keys said. The bureau took <br />over design and construction man- <br />agement for the project in 200 I. <br />However, Keys said that Weemi- <br />nuche's cost estimBtes were based <br />on incomplete data and didn't cov- <br />er the expensive site changes. <br />"Lack of informatlon caused the <br />bad estimate," Keys said. <br />Despite the half-billion dollar re- <br />vised plice, Keys said that Con- <br />gress, the cities that are sponsoring <br />the project and the tribes remain <br />committed to completing the Ani- <br />mas-La Plata. <br />"The support is still there. The <br />need is still there," said Keys. <br />"We've already invested $134 mil- <br />lion. It would cost more to pull out. <br />"We've had a drought that's last- <br />ed four to six years. There is an ex- <br />treme need for water," he said. <br />The cities that receive Ani- <br />mas-La Plata water may pay more, <br />Keys said. The Southern utes and <br />,us:un.:. Utes don't face high- <br /> <br /> <br />~'~MountainNews.comJ <br />