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f3 Appendix V The Navajo Indian Irrigation Project and Its Relationship to the Animas-La Plata Project '.\, ": r.~ l~ ---'> \~ ~~ Both the Animas-La Plata project and the Navajo Indian lITigation Project (NIlP) are located in the San Juan River basin and affect the same population of endangered Colorado squawfish in the San Juan River. One of the elements of the "reasonable and prudent alternative" for the Animas-La Plata project (referred to hereinafter as the "alternative") involves annual releases of water from the Navajo Dam and Reservoir, which stores water used by NIIP. However, the Navajo Nation disputes this use of reservoir water because it may jeopardize the completion of NIIP and the Navajo tribe's rights to use the water. Authorization and Construction of NllP The Congress authorized NIlP and another project-the San Juan-Chama project1-in 1962 (poL. 87-483). The authorization for NIlP included an annual water supply of 508,000 acre-feet to irrigate over 110,000 acres of land on the Navajo Indian Reservation; water for the project would be stored behind the Navajo Dam, in the Navajo Reservoir, on the San Juan River. The Bureau of Reclamation completed construction of the Navajo Dam in 1963. The Bureau began constructing facilities to deliver water for NIlP in 1964 and initially planned to complete construction by 1979. However, the construction of these facilities was subsequently delayed by a conflict between the Bureau and Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the project's sponsor. The Bureau and BlA eventually agreed that NIlP would be constructed in 11 units, each encompassing 10,000 acres. By August 1995, the Bureau had completed construction of seven units and was constructing the eighth. "1'. Consultation on NllP and Its Relationship to the Animas-La Plata Project BlA initiated consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the first eight units of NIlP in July 1991. On October 28, 1991, the Service issued its biological opinion on NIIP, which allowed existing depletions from the San Juan River for NIlP to continue. However, the Service disallowed additional depletions of about 56,900 acre-feet, which had been requested by BlA to fully develop the seventh and eighth units. In its biological opinion on NIIP, the Service noted that the additional depletions requested by BlA were". . . beyond the point of jeopardy delineated in the . . . Animas-La Plata biological opinion. . . ." The Service also wrote that ". . . any further depletions considered necessary for the operation of NIIP, will be evaluated t,{.:.,- 1;_ ';Ii ~. "Y-t.. \/ .. ~ ',~. 'Construction of the San ofuan-Chama p~ect was completed in 1971, This project diverts water from the San Juan River 8IId provides it to Albuquerque and to the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation In exchange for New Mexico's support for NllP, the Navajo Nation did not oppose the use ofwater for the San Juan-Chanul p~ect. page 23 GAOIRCED-96-1 AnImao-La Plata Project