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<br />
<br />Brent Blackwelder a/the
<br />Environmental Policy Center says
<br />damming the Dolores River would add
<br />to the salinity ofrhl! Colorado RiVer.
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<br />simply not be enough water to go around.
<br />Wc'veargued Ihat Ihe river's walcr qual-
<br />i1y is so poor now that no morc dams
<br />should be allowed_ But the local conser.
<br />vancy districts. the state governors and
<br />the Bureau of Reclamation ju..sl don't
<br />want to accept this view,"
<br />The Colorado River basin's biggest
<br />natural salinity source is the Dolores
<br />River. The Bureau of Reclamation is at-
<br />tempting to remedy the problem by di.
<br />verting the source of Dolores River salt,
<br />but Blackwelder dismissed such projects
<br />as costly "Band-Aid solutions."
<br />The bureau is also building a S234.]
<br />million desalting plant near Yuma. Ariz..
<br />that is about a third completed. It's pri-
<br />mary mission is to allow the United
<br />States to meet its treaty commitment to
<br />Mexico of 1.5 million acre feet of. water a
<br />year with a salinity content pegged to
<br />that of Colorado River water arriving at
<br />the Imperial Dam on the Arizona-CaJi-
<br />fornia border.
<br />The trouble with that arrangement is
<br />that the salinity level at Imperial has
<br />been rising. In 1979, aecording to the
<br />Bureau of Reclamation, Imperial's salin-
<br />ity concentration averaged 810 milli-
<br />grams per liter, and the bureau warns
<br />that it could reach 1,140 milligrams per
<br />liter by the turn of the century if no
<br />control measures are taken. About half
<br />the river's salts come from natural
<br />sources. The rest is atlributable to irriga-
<br />tion return, reservoir evaporation and
<br />other water losses.
<br />The bureau estimates that the "high
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<br />
<br />.;,
<br />
<br />companies with wa-
<br />ter that would other-
<br />wise come from
<br />farmers; the Mc-
<br />Phee Dam, he ar-
<br />gues, would be of lit-
<br />tle use to energy in-
<br />terests.
<br />In Cortez, at
<br />least, there is little
<br />question about
<br />where the real push
<br />for the Dolores proj-
<br />ect originated. The
<br />answer is the still un-
<br />met waler claims of
<br />the Ute Mountain
<br />Ute Indians. "We
<br />IitlI would never have
<br />gOllen the Dolores
<br />project approved in
<br />the first place if it
<br />had not been for the
<br />Indians,"said David
<br />Herrick, who also is
<br />a former Cortez city
<br />councilman.
<br />The Indians,
<br />whose reservation
<br />lies just south of
<br />Cortez, have strong water rights that
<br />threaten those of the Cortez area farmers
<br />who currently draw water from the Dolo-
<br />res to irrigate their land in the Monte-
<br />zuma Valley. The McPhee Dam would
<br />allow these farmers to get irrigation water
<br />on a regular basis, place a similar amount
<br />of dry-farming land under irrigation and
<br />provide 23,900 acre feel of water to the
<br />Indian reservation. The Indians' share
<br />comes to about 24 per cent of the ex-
<br />pected annual use from the reservoir.
<br />An agreement was made with the tribe,
<br />according to Herrick, to use some of the
<br />Dolores River water to replace the water
<br />from the Mancos River that now runs dry
<br />through the reservation. The tribe, how-
<br />ever, is now questioning whether it wants to
<br />pay for the distribution system that would
<br />carry the water south about 45 miles from
<br />the reservoir to Towaoc. This cost report-
<br />edly would come to about a third of the
<br />tribe's annual budget of $1.5 million.
<br />"The McPhee Dam really represents a
<br />$500 million solution to the Ute Moun-
<br />tain Indian water rights problem," Har-
<br />ding said.
<br />Whu lamm fears most is the \Vest's
<br />next major drought. He nOled that the
<br />Rocky Mountain states' average rainfall
<br />of 12 inches a year is only 2 inches above
<br />that of a desert. The West's droughts
<br />come about every 21 years, Lamm said,
<br />and some of them last 5 to 7 years.
<br />The last drought lasted only two years
<br />and ended in 1977. "A three-year
<br />drought," Lamm predicted, "would be
<br />catastrophic." 0
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<br />DanD B. Hill. Bureau of Reclamation project manager for
<br />the JfcPhee Dam, is confident tholthe dam for the Dolores
<br />River will be finished regardless a/the increase in the cost
<br />to local residents.
<br />
<br />salt load" of 10 million tons that enters
<br />lake Mead in Nevada annually ad-
<br />versely affects a million acres of irrigated
<br />land in the Lower Basin states. Last year,
<br />according to the bureau, the Colorado
<br />River's saltiness caused about $96 million
<br />in damages.
<br />Blackwelder contends that damming
<br />the Dolores would increase the Colorado
<br />River's salinity level by ]0 milligrams per
<br />liter, which would add another $4.7 mil-
<br />lion to crop losses downstream.
<br />SUI Lamm argues that if Colorado
<br />doesn't provide more water now for its
<br />future population growth, energy devel-
<br />opers will buyout the water rights of the
<br />state's farmers because "water runs to-
<br />ward money." Exxon Corp. 's recent deci-
<br />sion to quit its Colorado oil shale develop--
<br />ment plans represents only a temporary
<br />abatement of energy exploitation in the
<br />stale, in Lamm's view. In any event, Ex-
<br />xon is still purchasing 6,(0) acre-feet of
<br />water from the Reudi Reservoir near As-
<br />pen on the Fryingpan River.
<br />But many conservationists disagree.
<br />Harding, for one, argues thai energy com.
<br />panics will buy water rights from some
<br />of the best farmland along the west slope
<br />of the Rockies because that's where the
<br />oil shale is located. The energy compa-
<br />nies, he said, "only go for the good, old
<br />water rights" that go with the best farm-
<br />land.
<br />Harding points out that there is little
<br />energy activity along the Dolores River.
<br />Thus he rejects the argument that the
<br />McPhee Dam would provide the energy
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