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'I' i .l .":'" ;:-f :1 INTRODUCTION The Animas-La Plata Project would be located in the Upper Colorado River Basin in La Plata And Montezuma Counties of southwestern Colorado and San Juan County of northwestern New Mexico. The Congress authorized it as a participating pro- ject in the Colorado River Storage Project. PROJECT OBJECTIVES The project would be a multiple-purpose water resource development. Municipal and industrial water would be furnished to Durango and to the rural La Plata area in Colorado and to Farmington, Aztec, Bloomfield and several smaller communities, as well as the Navajo Tribe in New Mexico. The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribes would receive water primarily for the develop- ment of coal resources on their reservations. The project would provide water for the irrigation of Indian and non-Indian farmland in the La Plata and Mancos River drainages, and opportunities would be made for recreation at project reservoirs. A program for developing land for wildlife would compensate for wildlife losses at both reservoirs, and a program would be instituted to col- lect and preserve cultural resources. Project construction would take about ten years. PROPOSED PLAN Located southwest of Durango, RIDGES BASIN RESERVOIR, one of two offstream pro- ject reservoirs, would store water pumped from the Animas River by the DURANGO PUMPING PLANT. Reservoir releases would be made as necessary back to the Animas River for New Mexico's municipal and industrial users downstream and to supplement DURANGO PUMPING PLANT flows to the DURANGO MUNICIPAL AND INDUSTRIAL PIPELINE, connecting with the city's water-storage reservoir. Water pumped by RIDGES BASIN PUMPING PLANT, to be located on the western edge of the reservoir, would be conveyed in the SHENANDOAH PIPELINE to municipal and industrial water users in the South Durango Water District. Part of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribes' project water and irrigation water for Colorado farmers and municipal and industrial water users would be stored in RIDGES BASIN RESERVOIR and conveyed through the DRY SIDE CANAL and LONG HOLLOW TUNNEL. Water would be pumped to the DRY SIDE CANAL from RIDGES BASIN PUMPING PLANT. The canal would carry water west to project land in the La Plata and Mancos River drainages and to the canal's terminus for the Ute Mountain Ute In- dian Tribe's industrial use. Water from the La Plata River could be diverted into the DRY SIDE CANAL during spring runoff by the LA PLATA DIVERSION DAM or continue to flow downstream. SOUTHERN UTE RESERVOIR, storing flows diverted by SOUTHERN UTE DIVERSION Dk~ AND CANAL, would be located offstream on the Colorado-New Mexico State line east of the La Plata River and would store water for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe for resource development and for New Mexico irrigators. Water for New Mexico irrigators would be released through SOUTHERN UTE DAM to the NEW MEXICO IRRIGATION CANAL.