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<br />m. NEW MEXICO, COLORADO AND NAVAJO COMPONENTS <br /> <br />As noted elsewhere in this document, other interests potentially served by various <br /> <br />configurations of the project (primarily Colorado and New Mexico municipalities) can also be met <br />in ways which are both less costly and environmentally harmful than ALP and ALP Lite. While we <br />discuss these briefly here, we believe that, consistent with federal water policy, obligations for <br />designing and funding municipal water supplies remain the responsibility of state and local <br />governments, and should be dealt with on the local level, without federal subsidies. In addition, <br />the Navajo Nation has submitted an alternative using Navajo Reservoir, and we endorse that <br />request. <br />1. City or Durango <br />The City of Durango has a number of means of acquiring the 2600 acre\feet of water it <br />needs for future growth, as recognized in the 1994 Gronning Engineers report. These include <br />conservation measures and expansion of supplies in existing projects, particularly the Florida <br />River, in which it has existing rights. Joint ventures with the Tribes may also be feasible. In <br />addition, according to the Bureau of Reclamation, water could be delivered by gravity flow from <br />the Pine River to the area of the Durango airport for further delivery. <br />2. New Mexico Municipalities <br />Several proposals for solving New Mexico's water needs more efficiently and responsibly <br />were brought forward in the process of developing this alternative. New Mexico's water would be <br />available 96% of the time in the Animas River. Storage is only needed during extreme drought <br />conditions the other 4% of the time. The availability of water in the Animas River remains the <br />same in this alternative. Options for rare dry periods, such as building a storage facility in New <br /> <br />11 <br />