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<br />long-standing stare law limitations will
<br />prevent them from diverting flows for
<br />M&I purposes during certain times of
<br />the year," said David Robbins, special
<br />counsel for the Southwest Water
<br />Conservation District and the Animas
<br />La Plata Water Conservancy District.
<br />"They would still need a reservoir to
<br />store summer diversions for the periods
<br />of the year when irrigation diversions are
<br />not allowed,"
<br />
<br />The Birth of Animas-La Plata
<br />It was in 1968 that Animas- La Plata
<br />was created, at least on paper, under an
<br />amendment to the 1956 Colorado River
<br />Storage Project Act. Both the act and the
<br />amendment authorized new water projects
<br />for the Upper Basin states (Utah, Colorado,
<br />New Mexico and Wyoming), but also
<br />included water for American Indian
<br />tribes, including the Colorado Ute tribes.
<br />(It is important to note that although
<br />the '68 amendment did call for some
<br />water from the Animas and La Plata
<br />rivers to be delivered to the Colorado
<br />Ute Tribes, it was not a quantification
<br />of their water rights on those rivers,
<br />That would come 20 years later.)
<br />ALP was to be a massive project
<br />including multiple reservoirs, many
<br />miles of canals and runnels and numer-
<br />ous pumping facilities. Though some
<br />M&I water would result from the
<br />project, it was primarily an irrigation
<br />project that would move available water
<br />from the Animas River on the east, over
<br />the divide to the La Plata River on the
<br />drier side of the county where most
<br />farmers practice dry land farming.
<br />The project included water - about
<br />one-third of the project's rotal supply-
<br />for the Colorado Ute Tribes but again,
<br />not as a quantification of their water
<br />rights on the Animas and La Plata rivers.
<br />As envisioned in a 1979 report on ALp,
<br />the project would deplete an average of
<br />154,800 acre-feet of water annually (up
<br />to 33 percell( of its annual fall flow) and
<br />pump it 445 feet uphill to a 270,000
<br />acre-feet reservoir at Ridges Basin, From
<br />Ridges Basin, some M&l water would
<br />be parceled out ro the city of Durango,
<br />
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<br />, Furid ys:tIi~Bur~utoi.iJleg~d1y\rouducting~~j'iit .n~dtiatl9rr, to.ge;tAIil';','..
<br />bcu,ilt,$tarr QI'.Romer':ScQo.ttletl'roc.ss,,' , ',' , ' '
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<br />'1997lrd~tiun comp~nepts .limin.ted from AL!,,,ver .rr';itonmeht.l. .,.,','.." '.
<br />conc.tns,.Ilure.u ~ele.sesALP Lir.- 270,000 .cr~fe~t RiilgesBll$inRes."",oir
<br />wirhounh.itrigatiop components. Oppon.pts pmyid.nun-structl!nu
<br />altern.clye, Anim.s River Citizens' Coalition Cont.prual Alterh~uve.
<br />
<br />. 1998 Cliuton.dminisrr.uon proposes ALPUltr.Llr.,. 90,000'tre,f.~t"
<br />Ridgesllasin Reservoir with $40 millionro the trib.swmak.upi!>r d.fiei"
<br />of w.t.r owed ,them underrhe '88 Act.' '" , ,',
<br />
<br />. 1999 Burea.uanriounces Notice oFInr.nt ro rel.as. ,suflplemen,alBTStO'
<br />the J996suppl.inenr.1 EISthat will srudy lOalternarivesforAiPinduding "
<br />non-strucrural alternatives, Lit., Ulrra Lire and s.veral variariojj~,H.R. 3'112
<br />introduc~d to Cougressc
<br />
<br />. 2000 Bureau rei. as., draft 2000 EIS recommending ai10,O()0.~r~~fom '
<br />
<br />reserVOir.
<br />
<br />
<br />WINTER 2000 . RIVER REPORT . COLORADO RIVER PROJECT . 7
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