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<br />PRELIMINARY DRAFT - SUBJECT TO CHANGE - 05/13/99 <br /> <br />ANIMAS - LA PLATA PROJECT EIS <br />WATER USE SCENARIOS FOR <br />SOUTHERN UTE AND UTE MOUNTAIN UTE INDIAN TRIBES <br /> <br />A. PURPOSE OF REPORT <br /> <br />This report is intended to provide tribal water use scenarios to assist with the preparation <br />of an environmental impact statement for the current efforts to implement the 1986 <br />Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Final Settlement Agreement and the Colorado Ute <br />Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 1988. The Settlement Agreement and the <br />Settlement Act together quantified, inter alia, the Colorado Ute Indian Tribes' rights to <br />water in the Animas and La Plata Rivers. The scenarios in this report, therefore, are not <br />intended to address the quantification of water rights but instead are intended to provide <br />examples of the types of uses to which the tribes may put their water. As the future <br />unfolds, however, the tribes may decide to use their water in completely different ways. <br />The scenarios do not represent tribal policy for using their water, and should not be <br />considered binding on the tribes in any way. <br /> <br />B. MUNICIPAL WATER USE SCENARIO <br /> <br />The Decennial Census shows population growth between 1970 and 1990 approaching 3 <br />percent per year on both the Southern Ute (2.7% per year) and the Ute Mountain Ute <br />(2.9% per year) Indian Reservations. More recently, the enrollment of both tribes has been <br />increasing at approximately 1.3% to 1.5% per year [Knight, p. 5; Ute Mountain Ute <br />Indian Tribe, p.28], but the Census Bureau expects Colorado's American Indian <br />population to grow at an average annual rate of 1.9% through the year 2025. Table 1 <br />shows how tribal enrollment would grow in the future, assuming an annual growth rate of <br />1.9% for 1998 to 2025 [U.S. Census Bureau, PPL-47, Table 3], then declining to an <br />annual growth rate of 1.1% by 2065 [U.S. Census Bureau, P25-1130, Table 2]. If this <br />growth continues as expected, both Reservations will need additional water supplies to <br />serve the new households. <br /> <br />The population centers on both reservations, however, are located away from the Animas <br />and La Plata Rivers. Most tribal members on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation live in <br />the Pine River Valley, north and south ofIgnacio. The tribal members and the Town of <br />Ignacio both rely on the tribal water supply system, which draws its water from the Pine <br />River. <br /> <br />On the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation most tribal members live in Towaoc, which <br />is south of Cortez, Colorado, These residents receive their water supply from the Town <br />of Cortez, which gets water from the Dolores Project. <br /> <br />I <br />