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. . COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD 102 Columbine Building 1845 Sherman Street Denver, Colorado 80203 Barch 12, 1973 DOLORES PROJECT The Dolores project is located in Dolores and Montezuma counties in southwestern Colorado. Most of the project area lies outside of the present Dolores River basin. Geologists believe that the Dolores River once flowed across the Montezuma Valley towards the southwest, but was subsequently blocked and turned to the northwest by slowly rising moun- tains. The project was authorized by the Congress in 1968 as a par- ticipating project of the Colorado River Storage Project. The Dolores Water Conservancy District was organized in 1961 as the sponsoring and contractual agency for the project. The district includes portions of Dolores and Montezuma counties. The Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribe is also a project sponsor. Plan of Development The Dolores project would develop waters of the Dolores River for irrigation, municipal and industrial use, recreation, and fish and wildlife conservation. It also would provide flood control, benefit water quality, and aid in area redevelopment. Supplemental irrigation supplies would be made available to the Montezuma Valley area in the central portion of the project area, and full irrigation supplies would be provided for the Dove Creek area in the northwest and the Towaoc area to the south. Municipal and industrial water would be furnished to Cortez in the Drontezuma Valley area, to Dove Creek in the Dove Creek area, to the rural areas and to the Indian community in the vicinity of Towaoc on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian reservation. Primary regulation of Dolores River runoff would be provided at McPhee Reservoir on the river at the eastern edge of the project area by McPhee Dam and Great Cut Dike. All project water, as well as existing nonproject supplies for the Montezuma Valley area, would be diverted from