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<br />DD1SS7 <br /> <br />WAltR AND RELATED I.JlJIID RESOURCES <br />S/IN JUAN RIVER PJ\SIN IN ARIlOt/A, (l)LORAOO, NEW r-[XICO AND UTAH <br />I , SLI't1ARY <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />The broad objective of the study area is the collection and develop- <br />ment of information on water and related land resource use and <br />management, with particular regard to multiple use. This information <br />will provide a basis for effective coordination of llS~A programs <br />for watershed protection, flood prevention, agricultural water <br />management, recreation, fish and wildlife development, municipal <br />and industrial ~!ater development, and associated national forest <br />administration, with the related activities of local, state, and <br />other federal agencies. <br /> <br />This report presents information concerning water and related <br />land resources of the San Juan River Basin located in the "Four <br />Corners" area of Arizona, Colorado, New "'exico and Utah. The study <br />area includes those portions of these states within the hydrologic <br />boundaries of the San Juan River down to its confluence with the <br />Colorado River and Lake Powell. <br /> <br />c. <br /> <br />The San Juan River Basin drains an area including 15,965,200 acres. <br />About 39 percent of the drainage area is in ~Iew Mexico; 23 percent <br />in Colorado; ?O percent in Arizona and 17 percent in Utah. The <br />San Juan River is the second largest tributary to the Colorado River. <br />Its source is on the Continental Divide in southern Colorado and <br />it flows approximately 350 river miles westerly to its confluence <br />with the Colorado at a point about 80 miles upstream from Lee Ferry. <br /> <br />The Basin is about ?40 miles in length from east to west, and nearly <br />150 miles. from north to south. Elevations vary from about 3,200 <br />feet above sea level at the confluence with the Colorado River to <br />about 14,000 feet on the crests of mountain peaks in the San Juan <br />range. Precipitation varies from more than 60 inches annually in <br />small areas along the high peaks, to less than 10 inches in extensive <br />areas of the lower part of the basin. Water yields range from more <br />than 30 inches annually in parts of the basin, to less than one-tenth <br />inch in others. <br /> <br />Agricultural problems are mostly related to low farm incomes and <br />underemployment of resources stemming from the small size, low pro- <br />ductivity, relative isolation, lack of processing facilities, and <br />distance from markets of the farms and ranches. <br /> <br />Parts of the population exist in a chronically depressed economic <br />condition. There is an urgent need for development of the basin's <br />resource potentials. There are opportunities for increasing the <br /> <br />1-1 <br />