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C> c; !~~ (;:) c; c;: . RECEIVED OCT 1 6 1995 MINOR DEPLETIONS Colorado Waler Conservation Board The Fish and Wildlife Service has received an advance copy of the Corps of Engineers public notice to issue a Clean Water Act 404 permit for the proposed enlargement of Red Mesa Reservoir and safety modifications to Red Mesa Dam on Hay Gulch. a tributary of the La Plata River. in La Plata County. Colorado. We are in the process of reviewing the proposed action in light of whether it could and should be addressed under the minor depletions ceiling on the San Juan River. The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program Document provides the following discussion of minor depletions: In rendering biological opinions on federal actions resulting in minor depletions. the Service will consider all new information concerning project impacts and the status of the listed species. and good faith implementation of this Implementation Program in determining if sufficient progress toward recovery has been made to offset depletion impacts, or other project-induced impacts. on listed fish. It is understood that the aggregate of all minor depletions subject to section 7 consultation during the 7-year research period may result in a total annual depletion of not more than 3.000 acre-feet under the conditions of this paragraph. A copy of the minor depletions table maintained by this office is attached for your use. As evident in the table. at this time there is an aggregate of about 1300 acre-feet available for depletions. The total existing depletion for the Red Mesa project is 1.202 acre-feet. an aggregate of the reservoir water surface evaporation (101.9 af) and the annual irrigation depletion based on 1.140 acres receiving a 49% supply with a consumptive use rate of 1.97 af per acre (1.100). The total depletion with the enlargement is estimated to be 2.199 at. The provision of 2.199 af of water for Red Mesa exceeds what is currently available in the minor depletions account. It is 400% more than the largest of the depletions accommodated in the minor depletions arena. The Fish and Wildlife Service believes that allowing all the remaining minor depletions water to be committed to one project for an anticipated project life of 50 years does not fulfill the purpose of setting aside a block of water for use by the minor or short term users. With this application satisfied, other entities would not be able to get their depletions (Region 6 is currently working to provide the Southern Ute Tribe with an opinion on about 450 af). The current level of the larger individual depletion allowed to go forward has been around 50 to 100 acre-leet (and the majority much below that amount) for the last 4 years. With the ceiling met by the allocation of the remaining water to one project. we would be unable to respond to other requests.