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'" ~" . 2 . ~~~n . and Mancos Drainages and about 17,000 acre feet from the La Plata River to the Mancos Drainage. In total, considering reuseable return flows, it is estimated 198,200 acre feet of water will be diverted. . To accomplish this water diversion the project will include the construction and operation of the Ridges Basin and Southern Ute Dams and Reservoirs, the Durango and Ridges Basin pumping plants, several conveyance systems, two diversion dams on the La Plata River (La Plata and Southern Ute), and an electric power transmission line and associated facilities. It is estimated facility construction will take 10 years to complete. Non-project facilities that would likely be built, as a result of the project, include two municipal water treatment plants, several pumping stations that would develop necessary water pressure for sprinkler irrigation, and numerous buildings. The project irrigation water may be provided to 70,100 acres of land in private ownership and the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian Reservations. To accommodate the 118,100 acre feet.of irrigation water, about 70 percent of this area will need sprinkler distribution systems. clearing. and land leveling. The Indian land would require extensive clearing. The 80,100 acre feet of water for municipal and industrial use would be divided with approximately forty-one percent of this amount furnished to the two Ute Indian Reservations primarily for development of their coal resources. The remaining water would go to Durango, Aztec, Farmington, other towns and the Navajo Indian Reservation. The peregrine falcon, an inhabitant of the project area. was listed as endangered in 1970. The decline of their population is attributed to the presence of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in their food supplies which causes eggshell thinning, non-viable eggs. and increased adult mortality. This species feeds largely upon migratory birds and typically bunts riparian areas. Eyries are associated with cliff environments and bluffs of gentle terrain. A pair of peregrine falcons formerly nested on cliffs north of the proposed Ridges Basin Reservoir. This historic eyrie was last occupied by breeding peregrines in 1963. Recent sightings have been reported near the proposed reservoir. though there is no post-1963 evidence of breeding. .