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" ANIMAS-LA PLATA PROJECT Introduction The Animas-La Plata Project would be located in La Plata and Montezuma Counties of southwestern Colorado and San Juan County of northern New Mexico in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The author- ization for construction, operation, and maintenance of the project came under Title V of Public Law 90-537, September 20, 1968 as a part of the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) Act. Project Objectives The project has been formulated as a multiple purpose water resource development. It would provide muni- cipal and industrial water for the cities of Durango, Colorado, and Aztec and Farmington, New Mexico, and for the development of resources on the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain ute Indian Reservations. The project would provide irrigation water for lands in the La Plata River drainage, some of which are dry. Other have been irrigated in the past, but are dry at present because of insufficient water supplies. Additional objectives would be recreational opportunities and fish and wildlife enhancement. The project also would provide minimal flood control. Current Plan The main storage feature of the project would be Ridges Basin Dam and Reservoir. The Durango Pumping Plant, south of Durango, would pump Animas River water into Ridges Basin Reservoir. In addition, the facilities would include a diversion dam on the Animas River, a pumpstock and an earthlined canal to the reservoir. When avail- able, municipal and industrial water for Durango would be released from the canal directly to a treatment plant. When not pumping or when there are insufficient flows in the canal, municipal and indust- rial releases would be made from Ridges Basin Reservoir through a pipeline located on the north side of the reservoir. It is assumed that the municipal and industrial water would then be conveyed to a treatment plant constructed near the reservoir by the city of Durango. In addi- tion to storing a portion of Durango's municipal and industrial water, Ridges Basin Reservoir would provide storage for New Mexico municipal and industrial water, the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe's industrial and irrigation water, and irrigation water for the Colorado irrigators. Municipal and industrial water for Farmington and Aztec would be supplied from the Animas River and supplemented by releases from Ridges Basin Reservoir when direct flow was insufficient. The Ridges Basin Pumping Plant would pump water from the reservoir into Ridges Basin Canal, which would then convey the water to the La Plata River drainage. Ridges Basin Canal would provide all of the irrigation water from Red Mesa and a base flow for the Dry Side area. The Dry Side Canal would extend westward from Hay Gulch and would serve all of the Dry Side area with flows from Ridges Basin Canal, except during