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, . 2M .'. . , . , THE DENVER POST , WlI~ Dean SlneJeton. Chafnnan "'the ao.rd Ol;Jha1d F. Hunt, Publl8her F. Gilman Spencer, Edltol' Chuck Green. EditcrlaI Page EdItor Gay COOk, M~ Editor William H. Hornby, SMIor EdifJol' '7bere is no hOpe for thesatlsfJed man'. II'.G. Bonro., PublIsher, 188&-1933 . , ,- Rethinking ~s~l:; Plata TF' TIlE ONLY p.."..e of the .l.AJdmaa..La Plata water project were to irrigate land so farmers In southwestern Colorado could grow more surplus crops, it , would be hard to Jualify. , But since the $600 million scheme also would setUe a long- Btandiog dispute over Indian wa~ ter rlghta, it's become poliUcally palatable. Indeed, BOme mem~ ben of Congreu - who might aorm.alJy decry such a deal as an enormous boondoggle - bave gI... U hearty supporL Th... lbe DOll.. that the proj- ect n:aay bave to be sculUed as a threat to ao ..daogered speci.. bas caused some otherwise thoaghUul leaders to holler, ''DaQin the squaw/Ish! Full speed ahead(" ~ It must be admitted that In an . earUer I Iesa-enligbtened age, the. federal government tried to ex- termJnate a8 "trub fish" the lIDIque aquatic creature It's now legally obliged to protect. But thla ls no reason to repudiate the _gored Specl.. Act, as1nle- rior Seeietary Manuel Lujan sog- geslod this week. In practice. the 17-year-old law bas aerved more as a cauUonary Dag than a red light to develop- menl Besides, It's a little early to beglo. reneging on the environ- < meDtal commitments the Ameri- can people so fervenUy renewed on tIie 20th anoiveraary of -Earth Day laal month. NtlW that Antmas-La Plata baa been put on bold by the U.s. FIsh and WUdlUe Service, the propo- nen18 shoold be tooklng at alter- naU1feS, not trying to atifle fur~ tber scientific studies. They might well find a way to meet the .oalloo" obUgaUons to the 1ndlan IrIbelllllbonl ..using ecological barnJ. - and costing the federal gttVtn1mlent needless m1ll1ons on tbetdde. Ol1e option would be to scale dowo the project, whlch was orig- lnaUy designed to provide more raw water each year than the - DOW--diJcredited Two Forts Dam IOUthwest of Denver. A smaller vera10n would require the diver- Bloo of less water from tbe Ani- maa River Into the La Plata drainage. Hence it would d1mln- isb the Impact of reduced river flows OD the few dozen native IQWlwfish that sUllsurvive in the San Juan River about 100 miles downstream. III addition, leaving more wa- ter in the channel would sustain a gro1ring river:rafUng industry aDd help to keep salinity levels in eheok, lb.. lessening lbe need lor expensive measures to control this form of pollution in the Colo- rado River system even farther dowmtream. ' Another approacb rnlgI1t be to ,~elve the project entirely and , , , . ; t , , ,. . " , , , [ , , ,. " seek other sources of water to meet historical obligations to the indians - who don't wholeheart- edly support the plans in any case, as the recent recall elecllon on the Southern Ute reservation clearly showed. Under the current proposal, In~ dian fanners would receive only about lS percent of the water from Animas-La Plata anyway. Tbe remaining yield would be used to irrigate some 85 &quare miles owned by non-Indians. Moreover, many of the potential customers might well find the water unaflordable, given blgb pumping costs and low prices for the hay, grain and vegetables that presumably would be groWl! wllblt. The Ute Mountain Ute reaerva~ tlon, which adjoins Mesa Verde National Park On the weat and south, probably could be ade~ quately supplied with water piped from the recently complet- ed McPhee Reservoir north of Cortez. The Southern Utes, wh() live farther east, might satisfy their needs with welm, small di~ versions and aUocaUona from ex- latina projects sucb as Valleclto Reservoir northeast of Durango. It's important to note, too, that while the Indians may bold senior water rights, their real long-term interest may not lie in exploiting the resource themselves, bat in selling or leasing their water to other users - primarily the thirsty inhabitants of Las Vegas, San Diego and other growing markets in the southwest. The water destined for Bach downstream cities could be stored in existiog projects like the Navajo Reservoir, which haSD't yet been fully allocated. ADd the revenue received for It could be used to address the tribes' health, education and 0th- er social needs, as well as to su~ port various economle-deve1o~ ment enterpriaea. The Colorado water establish- ment strongly opposes such ez- ports as a threat to potential fu- ture development within the state. However, the concept of in- terstate transfers - OIlng the river system itself as a conduit - is aUracUDg Increasing inter- f!st among professional water planners. In short. what appears to be a setback on.ft~nJmaB-La Plata could well tlltD out to be a rare opportunity .to re-examine some economic assUmptions that may not be valid anymore. Neither the Indian tribes nor the taxpayers would necesaarily be wel1...rvedby .pendlng bun- dreds of mlIllona of dollars on a problem. that might be solvoo. more cheaply, and with fewer ad- verse consequences, in a leas-tra. ditional manner.