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I The Town of Mancos, population 1,200, and the surrounding Mancos Reclamation Project with an irrigated agricultural. area of about 10,000 acres will be effected most seriously by these pending water rights. The Ute Mountain ute Indian Tribe has potential.ly irrigable lands located downstream from Mancos that are several. times larger in area than that of the area irrigated by the Mancos Project. If the Tribe receives a No.1 Priority water right for their lands and builds facilities to put the right to beneficial. use, there will be essential.ly no water left for the cOllllllUDity of Mancos. The entire financial. economy of the area could be lOst. The Animas-La plata Project, as authorized, would provide a total. of 80,000 acre-feet of water for the development of Ute Indian resources. In reformu- la:ting the project plan, it is expected that Indian deve10pment can be further maximized. The Tribes have each indicated they are much more interested in receiving "wet" water from the project than they would be in receiving a "hand full of paper water rights" with no facilities to put the rights to use. They have further indicated they would be willing to enter into an agreement whereby they would forego the use of their potential. water rights in lieu of receiving water from the project. Thus, areas like Mancos, located outside the Animas-La Plata project service area, would receive direct benefits from the project. It appears that the Animas La p1ata project provides the on1.y practical. solution to the critical. social. and financial. prob1ems that would otherwise develop as a result of the Indian water right claims. Advance Planning Studies .' Advance planning studies were initiated in fiscal. year 1971. Under unin- terrupted funding conditions, a Definite plan Report could be completed by the end of F.Y. 1975 and construction could be initiated the following year. A time schedule is shown on page 19. The project plan is in the process of being reformulated to improve engin- eering and economic efficiency, to mitigate possible adverse environmental. effects, and to minimize the project I s effect on sal.ini ty in the Colorado River. The best appearing plan at the present time would eliminate How8l'dsville Reservoir and the upper 37 miles of the Animas Diversion Canal.. It would include (1) a hydroelectric power plant on the Animas River 15 miles up- stream from Durango, (2) a ll5-KVA transmission line from the power plant to a pumping plant one mile downstream from Durango, (3) Ridges Basin Reservoir located four miles southeast from Durango and (4) a second pump- ing plant to lift project water from Ridges Basin Reservoir to a saddle in the divide between the Animas and La plata River drainages. The plan would have the advantagE'! of Jeavlng '~he An1ms." lH",,~' ltJld.ep"'.lted. :fur an Mili,tional 35 to 40 miles. 16