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<br />S'XATEMENT OF <br />MANCOS WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT <br />l3J.:FORE THE <br />PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOM/.u'J."= ON APPROPRIATIONS <br />Washington, D.C., MAY 22, 1973 <br /> <br />Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee: M:Y name is Noland Al.exander. <br />I am President of the Mancos Water Conservancy District and a resident of <br />Mancos, Colorado, a community of about 1,200 people. Our District operates <br />and maintains the Mancos Project which was built by the Bureau of Reclama- <br />tion to furnish supplement8J. water for the irrigation o:f approximately <br />10,000 acres of land surrounding Mancos. The project also provides muni- <br />cipal water for the Town of Mancos and domestic_water for the Mancos Rural <br />Water Company. We have a contract with the United states to repay the <br />reimbursible costs o:f this project. I am here to testify on behalf of the <br />Animas-La Plata project, in that we in Mancos feel that this project pro- <br />vides the only practical solution to a serious economic and social problem <br />that threatens the very existance of our community. <br /> <br />The United States Justice Department has :filed suit on behalf of the Ute <br />Mountain U'te and Southern U'te Indian Tribes to have their water rights <br />established in the San Juan River Basin in Southwestern Colorado. Because <br />of previous legal precedence established by the Winters Doctrine, it is <br />expected that the Tribes will receive water rights with priority dates that <br />will coincide with the dates when their Reservations were established. <br />These dates will be senior to all the water rights now in use in San Juan <br />Basin. <br /> <br />The U'te M:>untain U'te Indian Tribe has potentially irrigable land located <br />downstream from Mancos that is several times larger in area than that of <br />the area irrigated by the Mancos project. I:f the Tribe receives a No. 1 <br />Priority water right for their lands and builds facilities to put the right <br />to beneficial use, there will be essentially no water left for the commu- <br />nity of Mancos. OUr entire econOlllY could be lost. <br /> <br />We feel that the United States Government is to a large extent, responsible <br />in two ways for allowing this situation to develop. First, it waited for <br />80 years after our community was settled and an irrigated agriculture <br />developed before it made any attempt to establish the water rights to which <br />the Indian Tribes are entitled. second, it built the Mancos Project and <br />obligated our District and water users for project repayment without ana- <br />lyzing the effect of the potential Indian water rights on our payment <br />capacity. <br /> <br />'?: <br /> <br />The Tribal members have indicated that they are much more interested in <br />obtaining "wet" water from the Animas-La Plata project than they are in <br />receiving a "hand :full of paper water rights" with no facilities with which <br />to put them to use. They have further indicated they would be willing to <br />enter into an agreement whereby they would relinquish their potential water <br />rights in lieu of receiv"1ng "...t.er :rrom the JlniJnl'l,,-I,a Plata PrOject. <br /> <br />3 <br />