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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction The Department of the Interior (Interior), through the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and in cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EP A), and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Southern Ute Indian Tribes (Colorado Ute Tribes), has prepared this Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS). This FSEIS is prepared under the provisions of Public Law (P.L.) 93-638, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Settlement Act The Animas-La Plata Project (ALP Project) FSEIS evaluates the potential impacts of implementing the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlernent Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-585) (Settlement Act). The Settlement Act, through construction of the ALP Project, is intended to provide the Colorado Ute Tribes an assured long-term water supply in order to satisfy the Colorado Ute Tribes' senior water rights claims.The ALP Project was authorized by the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968 to be located in La Plata and Montezuma Counties in southwestern Colorado and in San Juan County in northwestern New Mexico (see Map 1 showing the ALP Project area). The ALP Project was designed to provide irrigation and municipal and industrial (M&I) water supplies to the Colorado Ute Tribes and other project beneficiarieS. A Colorado Ute Indian Water RightS Final Settlement Agreement (Settlement Agreement) was signed on December 10, 1986, which quantified the Colorado Ute Tribes' water rights. The water rights allow the Colorado Ute Tribes to obtain water from several rivers and projects, including water supplied from the ALP Project. In 1988, Congress incorporated the ALP Project into the Settlement Act in order to settle Colorado Ute Tribal water rights claims. The Settlement Act requires delivery of ALP Project water to the Colorado Ute Tribes by January I, 2000, to avoid future litigation or renegotiation of Tribal water rights claims. If a project is not approved, or implementation is delayed, the Colorado Ute Tribes have the option of commencing litigation or renegotiating theirreserved water rights claims by January 1,2005. The completion of the Settlement Act has been delayed because of a convergence of factors: an increasingly prominent role of endangered species and recovery efforts, decreasing federal support for irrigated agriculture, a decline in new reservoirs and dams built by Reclamation, and increasing local participation in water resource development matters. Each of these factors has led to a series of refinements to the original ALP Project. Purpose and Need The purpose of and need for the proposed federal action is: ... to implement the Settlement Act by providing the Ute Tribes an assured long-term water supply and water acquisition fund in order to satisfy the Tribes' senior water rights claims as quantified in the Settlement Act, and to provide for identified M&I water needs in the Project area." [Federal Register Notice, January 4, 1999] Providing the Colorado Ute Tribes with an assured long-term water supply is necessary to protect existing water users from senior water rights claims. The Colorado Ute Tribes would use this assured water supply to satisfy future M&I water demands on their reservations and to provide water for regional ES-I