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m ';;..,) "':..... ..-( ,";:) ,';:) 6 In addition to providing a reliable supply of water, the Project is designed to fulfill the following objectives and responsibilities: 1. To J?uild the Project with absolutely minimum adverse social and economic effect, 2. Without damage to the environment, 3. Without damage to important archeological and historic sites, */ 4. To enhance recreational opportunities, and S. To provide wildlife benefits. The Project is designed to salvage water presently being lost to evapora- tive processes from the Closed Basin area of the northern Valley. Thus, the primary means of securing water without affecting historic use is for the Project to tap into a source of water which is not being beneficially used. The Project design calls for a network of between 150 and 180 shallow wells spread out over an area of 130,000 acres (less than 1 well per section of land on the average). The 130,000 acres wi thin the formal Pro jec t boun- daries consist of the sump area of the Closed Basin. This area is the lowest point in the Valley other than the bed of the Rio Grande itself. Water which reaches this part of the Valley, either on or below the sur- face, has quite literally no place to go but up. Most of the water which reaches the Closed Basin sump comes from the Sangre de Cristos on the east side of the Valley. The Project salvage well system does not depend on the very small amount of water which flows through the developed farmland to the west of the Project area. The salvage well system is designed so that it cannot "suck the water out from belo\~" the lands surrounding the Project.. The law authorizing the Project (Public Law 92-514) provides further assurance that effects to historic local water use will be inconsequential. By law, the Project wells cannot tap into the first widespread artesian aquifer. At a depth between 90 and several hundred feet below the surface of the whole Valley floor, layers of imperme.able clay seal off an enormous reserve of water. When a pipe (an artesian well) is inserted into the lower levels, the pressure causes water to flow naturally to the surface. Some of the first artesian wells I"hich were drilled in the Valley sent geysers of water over 50 feet in the air. The thousands of artesian wells which have been drilled since then have relieved so much of the pressure on the .artesian aquifer that many Valley artesian wells flow less and in some cases no longer flow at all. Because the artes~an aquifer is of such great importance to the economy of the Valley and because a new artesian well can affect the flow of older artesian wells miles away, the Project is pre- vented by law from contributing to the problem by tapping into the artesian aquifer (for more details concerning this question see section VI and questions 2 and 3). */One could perhaps object to items 2 and 3. The Project is designed to minimi~e disruption of the environment and archeological sites. Mitigation pro- cedures are planned for those minimal effects. The net result will be no damage.