Navajo Irrigation and San Juan-Chama Projects, New Mexico


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Source: 86th Congress, 1st Session, Senate, Report No. 155

NAVAJO IRRIGATION AND SAN JUAN-CHAMA PROJECTS, NEW MEXICO


APRIL 8, 1959.--Ordered to be printed


Mr. ANDERSON, from the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 72]

The Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 72) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama project as participating projects of the Colorado River storage project, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

TEXT OF THE BILL

The text of S. 72 is as follows:

That, for the purposes of furnishing water for irrigation or irrigable and arable lands, municipal, domestic and industrial uses (and for other beneficial purposes), providing recreation and fish and wildlife benefits, controlling silt, the Congress hereby approves as participating projects of the Colorado River storage project the Navajo Indian irrigation project, New Mexico, and the San Juan-Chama project, Colorado-New Mexico. Principal engineering works of the Navajo Indian irrigation project shall be a main gravity canal, tunnels, siphons, pumps, and powerplants for project purposes, laterals, drains, distribution systems and related works. The San Juan-Chama project facilities shall be comprised principally of regulating and storage reservoirs, collection, diversion and conveyance systems, and associated works.

The Navajo Indian irrigation project and the San Juan-Chama project herein approved are substantially those described in the proposed coordinated report of the Acting Commissioner of Reclamation and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, approved and adopted by the Secretary of the Interior on October 16, 1957.

SEC. 2. Pursuant to the provisions of the Act of April 11, 1956 (70 Stat. 105), the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to construct, operate, and maintain the Navajo Indian irrigation project for the principal purpose of furnishing irrigation water to approximately one hundred and ten thousand six hundred and thirty acres of land, said project to have an average annual diversion of five hundred and eight thousand acre-feet of water, the repayment of the costs of construction thereof to be in accordance with the provisions of said Act of April 11, 1956 (70 Stat. 105), including, but not limited to, section 4(d) thereof.

SEC. 3. (a) In order to provide for the most economical development of the Navajo Indian irrigation project, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to declare by publication in the Federal Register that the United States of America holds in trust for the Navajo Tribe of Indians any legal subdivisions or unsurveyed tracts of federally owned land outside the present boundary of the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico in townships 28 and 29 north, ranges 10 and 11 west, and townships 27 and 28 north, ranges 12 and 13 west, New Mexico principal meridian, susceptible to irrigation as part of the Navajo Indian irrigation project or necessary for location of any of the works or canals of such project: Provided, however, That no such legal subdivision or unsurveyed tract shall be so declared to be held in trust by the United States for the Navajo Tribe until the Navajo Tribe shall have paid the United States the full appraised value thereof: And provided further, That in making appraisals of such lands the Secretary of the Interior shall consider their values as of the date of approval of this Act, excluding therefrom the value of minerals subject to leasing under the Act of February 25, 1920, as amended (30 U.S.C. 181-286), and such leasable minerals shall not be held in trust for the Navajo Tribe and shall continue to be subject to leasing under the Act of February 25, 1920, as amended, after the lands containing them have been declared to be held in trust by the United States for the Navajo Tribe.

(b) The Navajo Tribe is hereby authorized to convey to the United States, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to accept on behalf of the United States, title to any land or interest in land within the above-described townships, susceptible to irrigation as part of the Navajo Indian irrigation project or necessary for location of any of the works or canals of such project, acquired in fee simple by the Navajo Tribe, and after such conveyance said land or interest in land shall be held in trust by the United States for the Navajo Tribe as a part of the Navajo Indian Irrigation project.

(c) The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to acquire by purchase, exchange, or condemnation any other land or interest in land within the townships above described susceptible to irrigation as part of the Navajo Indian irrigation project or necessary for location of any of the works or canals of such project. After such acquisition, said lands or interest in lands shall be held by the United States in trust for the Navajo Tribe of Indians and the price of such lands or interest in lands or of the land given in exchange therefor by the United States shall be charged to funds of the Navajo Tribe of Indians on deposit in the Treasury of the United States.

SEC. 4. In developing the Navajo Indian irrigation project, the Secretary is authorized to provide capacity for municipal and industrial water supplies or miscellaneous purposes over and above the diversion requirements for irrigation stated in section 2 of this Act. But such additional capacity shall not be constructed and no appropriation of funds for such construction shall be made unless, prior thereto, contracts have been executed which, in the judgment of the Secretary, provide satisfactory assurance of repayment of all costs properly allocated to the purposes aforesaid with interest as provided by law.

SEC. 5. Payment of operation and maintenance charges of the irrigation features of the Navajo Indian irrigation project shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Act of August 1, 1914 (38 Stat. 582, 583), as amended by the Act of August 7, 1946 (60 Stat. 867): Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior in his discretion may transfer to the Navajo Tribe of Indians the care, operation, and maintenance of all or any part of the Navajo Indian irrigation project works, subject to such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, and, in such event, the Secretary may transfer to the Navajo Tribe title to movable property necessary to the operation and maintenance of project works.

SEC. 6. (a) Pursuant to the provisions of the Act of April 11, 1956 (70 Stat. 105), the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to construct, operate, and maintain an initial stage of the San Juan-Chama, project, Colorado-New Mexico, for the principal purposes of furnishing water supplies to approximately thirty-nine thousand three hundred acres of land in Cerro, Taos, Llano, and Pojoaque tributary irrigation units in the Rio Grande Basin, about eighty-one thousand six hundred acres of land in the existing Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, and municipal, domestic, and industrial uses, and providing recreation and fish and wildlife benefits, said initial stage to have an average annual diversion of one hundred and ten thousand acre-feet of water. Principal engineering works of the initial stage development, involving three major elements, shall include diversion dams and conduits, storage and regulation facilities at the Heron Numbered 4 Reservoir site and enlargement of outlet works of the existing El Vado Dam, and water use facilities consisting of reservoirs, dams, canals, lateral and drainage systems, and associated works and appurtenances. The construction of recreation facilities at the Nambe Reservoir shall be contingent upon the Secretary's making appropriate arrangements with the governing body of the Nambe Pueblo for the operation and maintenance of such facilities, and the construction of recreation facilities at the Heron Numbered 4, Valdez, and Indian Camp Reservoirs shall be contingent upon the Secretary's making appropriate arrangements with a State or local agency or organization for the operation and maintenance of those facilities: Provided, That--

(i) all works of the project, both in its initial stage and in its final development, shall be constructed so as to permit compliance physically with all provisions of the Rio Grande compact, and all such works shall be operated at all times in conformity with the Rio Grande compact;

(ii) the amount of water diverted in the Rio Grande Basin for uses served by the San Juan-Chama project shall be limited in any calendar year to the amount of imported water available to such uses from importation to and storage in the Rio Grande Basin in that year;

(iii) details to project operation essential to the accounting of diverted San Juan and Rio Grande flows shall be cooperatively developed through the joint efforts of the Rio Grande Compact Commission, the appropriate agencies of the United States and of the States of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, and the various project entities. In this connection the States of Texas and New Mexico shall agree, within a reasonable time, on a system of gaging devices and measurements to secure data necessary to determine the present effects of tributary irrigation, as well as present river channel losses: Provided, That if the State of Texas shall require, as a precedent to such agreement, gaging devices and measurements in addition to or different from those considered by the Department of the Interior and the State of New Mexico to be necessary to this determination, the State of Texas shall pay one-half of all costs of constructing and operating such additional or different devices and making such additional or different measurements which are not borne by the United States. The results of the action required by this subsection shall be incorporated in a written report transmitted to the States of Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico for comment in the manner provided in the Flood Control Act of 1944, before any appropriation shall be made for project construction.

(b) The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to construct the tunnel and conduit works of the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama project with sufficient capacity for future diversion of an average of two hundred and thirty-five thousand acre-feet per annum, and to recognize the cost of providing such additional capacity as a deferred obligation to be paid at such time as the additional capacity may be required.

SEC. 7. (a) No person shall have or be entitled to have the use for any purpose, including uses under the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama project authorized by sections 2 and 6(a) of this Act, of water stored in Navajo Reservoir or of any other waters of the San Juan River and its tributaries originating above Navajo Reservoir to the use of which the United States is entitled, except under contract satisfactory to the Secretary of the Interior and conforming to the provisions of this Act. Such contracts, which, in the case of water for Indian uses, shall be executed with the Navajo Tribe, shall make provision, in any year in which the Secretary anticipates a shortage taking into account both the prospective runoff originating above Navajo Reservoir and the available water in storage in Navajo Reservoir, for a sharing of the available water in the following manner: The prospective runoff shall be apportioned between the contractors diverting above and those diverting at or below Navajo Reservoir in the proportion that the total normal diversion requirement of each group bears to the total of all normal diversion requirements. In the case of contractors diverting above Navajo Reservoir, each such contract shall provide for a sharing of the runoff apportioned to said group in the same proportion as the normal diversion requirement under said contract bears to the total normal diversion requirements of all such contracts that have been made hereunder: Provided, That for any year in which the foregoing sharing procedure either would apportion to any contractor diverting above Navajo Reservoir an amount in excess of the runoff anticipated to be physically available at the point of his diversion, or would result in no water being available to one or more such contractors, the runoff apportioned to said group shall be reapportioned as near as may be among the contractors diverting above Navajo Reservoir in the proportion that the normal diversion requirements of each bears to the total normal diversion requirements of the group. In the case of contractors diverting from or below Navajo Reservoir, each such contract shall provide for a sharing of the remaining runoff together with the available storage in the same proportion as the normal diversion requirement under said contract bears to the toral normal diversion requirements under all such contracts that have been made hereunder.

The Secretary shall not enter into contracts beyond a total amount of water that, in his judgment, in the event of shortage will result in a reasonable amount being available for the diversion requirements for the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama project as specified in sections 2 and 6(a) of this Act.

(b) In the event contracts are entered into for delivery from storage in Navajo Reservoir of water not covered by subsection (a) of this section, such contracts shall be subject to the same provision for sharing of available water supply in the event of shortage as in the case of contracts required to be made pursuant to subparagraph (a) of this section.

(c) This section shall not be applicable to the water requirements of the existing Fruitland, Hogback, Cuadi, and Cambridge Indian irrigation projects, nor to the water required in connection with the extension of the irrigated acre-ages of the Fruitland and Hogback Indian irrigation projects in a total amount of approximately eleven thousand acres.

SEC. 8. Section 12 of the Act of April 11, 1956, 70 Stat. 105, shall not apply to the works authorized by this Act. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such funds as may be required to carry out the purposes of this Act, but not to exceed $221,000,000 (January 1958 prices) plus such amounts, if any, as may be required by reason of changes in construction costs as indicated by engineering cost indexes applicable to the types of construction involved therein and, in addition thereto, such sums as may be required to operate and maintain the projects.

SEC. 9. The Act of April 11, 1956 (70 Stat. 105) is hereby amended as follows: (i) In section 1, subsection (2), after ‘‘Central Utah (initial phase)’’ delete the colon and insert in lieu thereof a comma; (ii) in section 5, subsection (e) in the phrase ‘‘herein or hereinafter authorized’’ delete the word ‘‘hereinafter’’ and insert in lieu thereof the word ‘‘hereafter’’; (iii) in section 7 in the phrase ‘‘and any contract lawfully entered unto under said Compacts and Acts’’ delete the word ‘‘unto’’ and insert in lieu thereof the word ‘‘into’’.

SPONSORS OF MEASURE

S. 72 is sponsored by Senator Anderson, of New Mexico, for himself and his colleague from New Mexico, Mr. Chavez.

BACKGROUND OF LEGISLATION

S. 72 is identical with S. 3648 reported by this committee on August 5, 1958 (Rept. No. 2198) and passed by the Senate on August 15, 1958.

The Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation held hearings on S. 72 on March 16, 1959. At that time the printed copies of the hearing held July 9-10, 1958, on S. 3648 and Report No. 2198 were incorporated in the record by reference.

Report No. 2198 contains a full explanation of S. 3648 section by section and, therefore, this analysis is not repeated in full in this presentation.

INTERESTS OF COLORADO AND OTHER STATES PROTECTED

The committee inquired particularly as to the protection of the interests of Colorado, Texas, California, and other states of the Colorado River Basin that might be affected by the development of the Navajo irrigation project and the San Juan-Chama diversion (initial phase) proposed to be authorized by S. 72.

At the hearing on March 16, new testimony was directed at the effect of these developments on the proposed Animas-La Plata project in Colorado and New Mexico. The committee is satisfied that there in sufficient water from the Colorado River system available to the States of Colorado and New Mexico to serve the Animas-La Plata project after consideration for the requirements of the Navajo Indian irrigation and the first phase of the San Juan-Chama diversion. No contradictory testimony was received. On the other hand, the view of the committee is confirmed by the testimony of the State engineer of New Mexico and correspondence between the chairman of the Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation and the Department of the Interior.

CLARIFICATION OF PARAGRAPHS OF REPORT NO. 2198

For the purpose of clarification, the fifth paragraph on page 8 of report 2198 should read:

A proviso as an amendment sets forth stream gaging details to be agreed upon by the States of New Mexico and Texas.

The last full paragraph on page 10 of Report No. 2198 should read:

Similarly, the representations of the State of Texas, which is not a party to the Colorado River compacts, were considered and the committee finds that interests of the State in the flows of the Rio Grande are adequately protected by the proposed agreement among the States of New Mexico and Texas, set forth in amendment inserted as 6 (i), (ii), and (iii).

The State of Colorado is not a party to the agreements between the States of Texas and New Mexico, and was inadvertently included in the paragraphs cited in Report No. 2198.

FINDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE

In recommending that S. 72 do pass, the committee reiterates the eight findings of fact summarized on pages 6 and 7 of Report No. 2198, as follows:

1.That the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the San Juan-Chama diversion project (initial phase) have economic and engineering feasibility to the extent that justifies their construction, operation, and maintenance as participating projects of the Colorado River storage project authorized by the act of April 11, 1956 (70 Stat. 105).
2.That the Navajo Indian irrigation and San Juan-Chama diversion projects will furnish water for irrigation of irrigable and arable lands, municipal, domestic, and industrial uses, provide recreation, fish and wildlife benefits, control silt, and have other beneficial uses.
3.That the 2 projects will directly and indirectly benefit more than one-half of the population of the State of New Mexico which by 1970 is expected to exceed 1 million persons.
4.That the Navajo Indian irrigation project is a sound and logical development to utilize for irrigation, industrial, and municipal purposes waters of the San Juan River to be stored at Navajo Dam and Reservoir, now under construction and to be completed in 1963. In addition, the project will provide a livelihood directly and indirectly for approximately 16,000 Navajo Indians through 110,000 acres of irrigated land, a substantial segment of the 80,000 members of the tribe, as well as supplemental municipal supplies for Farmington, Gallup, and other communities.
5.That the combined average annual stream depletion of the two projects as proposed for authorization totaling 362,300 acre-feet, together with existing and other authorized uses, will keep New Mexico's authorized draft on the Colorado River system well within the State's average annual entitlement estimated at 838,000 acre-feet.
6.That the initial phase of the San Juan-Chama diversion will assure means of providing water for irrigation, for existing developments and urgently needed additional municipal and industrial supplies available for the city of Albuquerque and Defense installations.
7.That the rights of all other States in the waters of the Colorado River system, in the Rio Grande, and all other affected streams are fully protected and that the two developments proposed to be authorized impinge in no way on these rights of any State. In this connection, the committee considered amendments proposed by the Colorado River Commission of California, and rejected same.
8.That the authorizations of the Navajo irrigation and San Juan-Chama developments were contemplated when the Congress enacted the Colorado River Storage Act, approved by the President on April 11, 1956, provided economic and engineering feasibility was established. The feasibility is established by the approval and adoption by the Secretary of the Interior on October 16, 1957, of the coordinated report of the Bureau of Reclamation and Office of Indian Affairs.

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Attention is called to the section-by-section analysis of S. 3648, as amended, appearing on pages 7 and 8 of Report No. 2198 which applies to the same material in S. 72.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECTS COVERED BY S. 72

Description of the two projects recommended for authorization in S. 72 were submitted by the Office of Indian Affairs for the Navajo irrigation project and by the Bureau of Reclamation for the San Juan-Chama diversion. These descriptions are as follows:

NAVAJO INDIAN IRRIGATION PROJECT

The plan of development for the Navajo Indian irrigation project in northwestern New Mexico is designed to provide approximately 17,000 Navajo Indians with an economy equal to the non-Indians by the development of 110,630 acres of irrigated land for the sole use of Navajo Indians by diverting annually 508,000 acre-feet of San Juan River water from storage in the Navajo Reservoir.

On the basis of January 1959 prices the estimated construction expenditure for the construction of the project facilities comprising outlet works, main supply canal and lateral distribution system, is about $135 million. The evaluated total annual benefits exceed the estimated annual costs in a ratio of about 1.6 to 1 for a 100-year period of analysis and 1.3 to 1 for a 50-year period of analysis.

Under the provisions of Public Law 485, 84th Congress, 2d session, authorizing the Colorado River storage project, the construction costs within the capability of the land to repay are subject to the act of July 1, 1932 (47 Stat. 564), and the construction costs beyond the capability of the land to repay are to be nonreimbursable. It is estimated that the repayment ability of the water users over a 50-year period would be approximately $21 million of the total construction cost. The remaining costs would be nonreimbursable.

In addition to irrigation service, it is contemplated that the Navajo project will provide supplemental municipal water for the city of Gallup and other cities or towns in the area.

SAN JUAN-CHAMA PROJECT

The ultimate plan of development for the San Juan-Chama project, Colorado-New Mexico, is designed to improve and stabilize the economy of the water deficient Rio Grande and Canadian Basins of New Mexico by providing supplemental water to meet rapidly increasing needs by means of an average annual diversion of 235,000 acre-feet of water from the upper tributaries of the San Juan River.

On the basis of January 1959 prices, the estimated construction expenditure for the ultimate project facilities, comprised principally of regulating and storage reservoirs, collection, diversion, and conveyance systems and associated works, is about $149 million. The evaluated total annual benefits exceed the estimated annual costs in a ratio of about 1.7 to 1.

Initial stage of development

The plan recommended by the State of New Mexico for initial stage development and construction of the San Juan-Chama project, which is authorized by S. 72, contemplates an average annual diversion of about 110,000 acre feet from the San Juan River for utilization in the Rio Grande Basin in New Mexico. The water would be used for additional municipal and industrial water supply for the city of Albuquerque, and supplemental irrigation of 39,300 acres of land in Cerro, Taos, Llano, and Pojoaque tributary irrigation units and 81,600 acres in the existing Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.

The estimated construction cost of the project features of the initial stage, on the basis of January 1959 prices, is about $86 million, which includes $400,000 for minimum basic recreation facilities. Of those costs, reimbursable allocations of about $53,400,000 are made tentatively to irrigation; $29,200,000 to municipal and industrial water supply; and $3 million to future uses. The recreation costs would be nonreimbursable.

Irrigation water users probably would repay about $8 million of the irrigation allocation under repayment contracts as provided by the Colorado River Storage Project Act of April 11, 1956. Costs allocated to irrigation in excess of the irrigators' ability to repay would be paid from New Mexico's apportionment of the Upper Colorado River Basin fund revenues as provided in that act. Costs allocated to municipal and industrial water supply, including interest during construction, would be repaid over a 50-year period with interest. Costs allocated to future uses, which involve the provision of excess capacity in the initial stage to permit later project expansion, would also be an obligation against New Mexico's apportionment of revenues and repaid therefrom if not otherwise collected as a result of subsequent allocations to the water users.

The benefit-cost ratio of the initial stage development is 1.26 to 1 for a 100-year period of analysis and 0.81 to 1 if direct benefits only are used in a 50-year period of analysis.

COORDINATED REPORT APPROVED BY SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

The committee calls attention to the comments on S. 3648 of the Department of the Interior under date of July 8, 1958, in a letter to Chairman Murray, printed at the conclusion of Report No. 2198, and to the letters of March 4, 1959, and March 9, 1959, from the Bureau of the Budget and the Secretary of the Interior , relating to S. 72.

The feasibility of the engineering, economic and related phases of the Navajo Indian irrigations project and the San Juan-Chama diversion reaffirm the action of the Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton on October 16, 1957. On that date over his own signature, the Secretary approved and adopted the proposed coordinated report of the Office of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Reclamation with respect to the two developments dealt with in the pending legislation.

The coordinated report approved and adopted by the Secretary followed years of thorough and intensive investigations by the competent engineers and economists of the two agencies responsible to the Secretary of the Interior.

The committee respects the view of the Bureau of the Budget, as an arm of the President. Nevertheless, the Secretary of the Interior is charged directly by law with formulating data, reports, and recommendations on the basis of years of field investigations by trained personnel and review by competent superiors. Therefore, the committee is of the opinion that authorization at this time of the two projects as set forth in S. 72 is fully justified on the basis of the report ‘‘approved and adopted’’ by the Secretary of the Interior on October 16, 1957, as modified with respect to minor details by the Department's letter of July 8, 1958, signed by Assistant Secretary of the Interior Fred G. Aandahl.

COMMUNICATIONS WITH AND FROM EXECUTIVE AGENCIES

LETTER FROM SENATOR ANDERSON

MARCH 2, 1959.

Hon. WILBUR A. DEXHEIMER,
Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation,
Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. COMMISSIONER: I am writing to confirm Goodrich Line-weaver's telephone request to Mr. Bennett, made at my direction, for information I desire, as promptly as possible, regarding a conflict, if any, between the proposed Navajo Irrigation-San Juan-Chama (initial phase) in New Mexico, on the one hand, and the Animas-La Plata development in Colorado, including water for the city of Durango.

The points on which information is desired are as follows:

1.Definition of the Animas-La Plata project in Colorado.
2.Where and how much water is required for Colorado area of Animas-La Plata project, including city of Durango?
3.Where plans for or construction of Navajo irrigation and San Juan-Chama (initial phase) would conflict, if any, with plans for or construction of Animas-La Plata project in Colorado?
4.If no conflict, please advise what objections Colorado interests have to Navajo irrigation-San Juan-Chama development in New Mexico?

The views of the Bureau on the validity, if any, of objections by Colorado interests in view of the findings set forth in the coordinated report of the Bureau of Reclamation and Office of Indian Affairs on the New Mexico developments approved by the Secretary of the Interior on October 16, 1957.

I will appreciate a comprehensive reply to the points outlined by March 9, 1959.

Sincerely,

CLINTON P. ANDERSON,
Chairman, Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation.


RESPONSE FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Department of the Interior,
Office of the Secretary
Washington, D.C., March 12, 1959.

Hon. CLINTON P. ANDERSON,
Chairman, Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation,
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.

DEAR SENATOR ANDERSON: Your letter of March 2, 1959, addressed to Commissioner Dexheimer, requests certain information on the relationship of the proposed Animas-La Plata project to the proposed San Juan-Chama and Navajo Indian irrigation projects. The information you desire follows under the same numbering as contained in your letter.

(1)The Animas-La Plata project, insofar as it can be defined prior to completion of investigations, contemplates furnishing irrigation water to a total of about 86,600 acres. Of this total some 66,000 acres are in Colorado, divided about 45,900 acres new lands, 20,100 acres supplemental supply lands. In New Mexico the total acreage of 20,600 is divided 15,100 new lands, 5,500 supplemental service lands. Consideration is also being given to supplying the city of Durango, Colo., with municipal water supply. Present thinking is this will require about 17,000 acre-feet of water per year. The Animas-La Plata project would obtain its water supply from the Animas River and the La Plata River.
(2)Although final figures are not yet available as to exact water requirements, present computations indicate that the Colorado lands would be supplied by a diversion from the Animas River of about 163,000 acre-feet and from the La Plata River with about 14,000 acre-feet. The requirements for the city of Durango, as indicated above, are about 17,000 acre-feet.
(3)There is no physical conflict between the plans proposed for the Navajo Indian irrigation project and San Juan-Chama project and those for the Animas-La Plata project. The San Juan-Chama and Navajo Indian irrigation projects are on the San Juan River watershed above the confluence of that river with the Animas River.
(4)The position of some Colorado interests, as we understand it, is the fear that if the New Mexico projects on the San Juan River are constructed ahead of Animas-La Plata and with a water right prior to that which could be obtained for the New Mexico lands of the Animas-La Plata project, New Mexico might ultimately decide not to develop its lands in the Animas-La Plata project. They are concerned then that if the New Mexico lands are not included in the Animas-La Plata project, it is possible that the remaining project might not be feasible. The concern that New Mexico might take such a position arises over the question of the magnitude of the total amount which the upper basin ultimately may be permitted to use of the flow of the Colorado River at Lee Ferry. They reason that if, for some cause or other, such as inadequate total water supply or requirements on the upper basin for servicing the Mexican Treaty, the total depletion that the upper basin may make would be so much less than the 7,500,000 acre-feet apportioned by the Colorado River compact, that New Mexico would not be able to consume water beyond that required by the San Juan-Chama-Navajo Indian irrigation projects and certain municipal uses.

In regard to the expressed concern about feasibility of a diminished Animas-La Plata project, our investigations have not yet reached a point where a determination can be made. The concern over the possibility that the upper basin may not be permitted to utilize the full amount apportioned to it under the Colorado River compact arises from certain compact interpretations and resultant water supply studies which this Department has not considered to be acceptable.

The proposed coordinated report on the San Juan-Chama-Navajo Indian irrigation projects and the testimony presented to your subcommittee in the spring of 1958 were both based upon the assumption that the upper basin could utilize 7,500,000 acre-feet per year. Under that type analysis it can be shown that with New Mexico's share amounting to 838,000 acre-feet annually New Mexico would be able to develop all its presently foreseeable projects, utilizing waters of the San Juan River Basin, including the New Mexico portion of the Animas-La Plata project, with about 93,000 acre-feet remaining for other potential uses.

Sincerely yours,

FRED G. AANDAHL,
Acting Secretary of the Interior.

COMMENT OF DEPARTMENT ON S. 72

Department of the Interior,
Office of the Secretary
Washington, D.C., March 9, 1959.

Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY,
Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
United States Senate, Washington, D.C.

DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: This responds to your request for the views of this Department on S. 72, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama project as participating projects of the Colorado River storage project, and for other purposes.

This Department cannot now recommend that any action be taken with respect to this measure.

The bill would approve the proposed Navajo Indian irrigation project and the San Juan-Chama project and would authorize the construction of the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama project. The proposed plan of development of these two projects was outlined in our report of July 8, 1958, to your committee on S. 3648, 85th Congress, and need not be repeated here.

As we informed your committee in that report, a proposed coordinated planning report on the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the San Juan-Chama project has been prepared jointly by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Commissioner of Reclamation, and has been approved and adopted by this Department. Copies have been sent to the affected States for review under the Flood Control Act of 1944 and the act of August 14, 1946, and to the interested Federal agencies for review under existing law and interagency agreements. The processing of the report has not yet been completed. Therefore, we are not in a position to make any recommendation with respect to the enactment or provisions of the bill, and it is suggested that the committee may wish to defer action on authorizing legislation until the planning report has been submitted to the Congress.

The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection to the submission of this report to your committee.

Sincerely yours,

FRED G. AANDAHL,
Assistant Secretary of the Interior.

COMMENT OF BUREAU OF THE BUDGET ON S. 72

Executive Office of the President,
Bureau of the Budget,
Washington, D.C., March 4, 1959,

Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY,
Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in reply to your letter of January 20, 1959, requesting the views of the Bureau of the Budget on S. 72, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama project as participating projects of the Colorado River storage project, and for other purposes.

The review of the proposed report of the Secretary of the Interior on the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the San Juan-Chama project under the procedures set forth in Executive Order No. 9384 has not been completed. Until this review has been completed, the Bureau of the Budget has no basis for appraising the merits of S. 72.

Accordingly the Bureau of the Budget would recommend that your committee defer action on S. 72 until a report has been submitted to the Congress in accordance with established procedures.

Sincerely yours,

PHILLIP S. HUGHES,
Assistant Director for Legislative Reference.

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