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e I. . "'r_~- .-...:.. ..~\ ;:;~'.{ ,_.-, I. .. - '... ~ . feet pumped from the reservoir accounts for releases back to the Animas River from downstream M&I demands, Durango M&I demand and reservoir evaporation. La Plata River Diversion Dam On the average the La Plata River Diversion Dams would divert 2,400 acre-feet from the La Plata River into the Dry Side Canal. Upstream of the La Plata River Diversion Dam approximately 1,000 acre-feet is diverted to project supplemental lands. Southern Ute Reservoir and Diversion Dam On the average 51,000 acre-feet would be diverted to the Southern Ute reservoir from the La Plata River. Releases from the reservoir would be used for the Southern UteM&I use and to provide a water supply to both full and supplemental service project lands in New Mexico. PROJECT EFFECTS ON THE COLORADO RIVER SYSTEM Pro;ect Depletions and Return Flows Of the 198,200 acre-feet of project water supply, 49,900 acre-feet would return to the San Juan River and its tributaries in the project area. Approximately 12,600 acre-feet of this return flow would be diverted at Southern Ute Diversion Dam and of this volume 6,100 acre-feet consumptively used, resulting in a net return flow of 43,400 acre-feet and a depletion of 154,800 acre-feet. Animas River The Animas River drains an area of about 1,360 square miles in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. Although there are irrigation diversions upstream of Durango, the river is largely unregulated. The maximum flow recorded at the Animas River at Farmington gauge was about 25,000 cfs in 1927 and the minimum recorded was 1 cfs in 1972. Although gauge records are available from 1912 to the present, a consistent time period of 1935 to 1989 was used to enable comparisons between various gauges in the San Juan River drainage. Unfortunately, a more limited period was used in the operation study that modeled the impacts of the Animas-La Plata Project, 1929 through 1977. The longer time frame of the gauge records is important to understand the effect that the construction of Navajo Dam had on San Juan River flows, while the operation study was used to analyze the effect that the Animas-La Plata Project would have at various locations on the San Juan River on a monthly and yearly timeframe. The average annual discharge of the Animas River at Farmington for the 1935 - 89 period was 623,000 acre-feet, and a frequency plot of the annual hydrograph is shown as Figure 2. The diversions for the project vary according to the variables listed above under 4