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Show A program for the immediate future includes the preparation of contour maps of the irrigable area by photographic methods, final location surveys of main gravity canals, foundation investigations for major conveyance and control structures, geological investigations of tunnel sites, preliminary design studies, and estimates of main gravity canal sections, conveyance and control structures. Although this project is part of the Colorado River Storage Project and is dependent upon the Navajo Dam for a firm water supply, Public Law 485 specifies that irrigation costs of the Navajo participating project beyond the capability of the land to repay shall be non-reimbursable, and that irrigation costs within the capability of the land to repay shall be deferred so long as the lands remain in Indian ownership. Detailed investigations, necessary exchanges of lands in public ownership for Indian lands and advanced planning of the Navajo Irrigation Project should be completed soon. b. San Juan-Chama Project This project will be located in south-central Colorado and north-central New Mexico in the San Juan, Rio Grande and Canadian River Basins. Water will be diverted from the headwaters of the San Juan River into the Rio Grande Basin for the purpose of providing supplemental water for existing irrigation projects and for municipal and industrial uses in the Albuquerque metropolitan area. Although water for diversion would be collected from the tributaries of the San Juan River located in both Colorado and New Mexico, all of the water would be used in New Mexico in the Rio Grande Basin. By exchange, the project would also increase the water supply of the Canadian River Basin in New Mexico. The ultimate plan provides for a trans-mountain diversion of 235,000 acre-feet of Colorado River Basin water annually. In addition, the project would improve conditions for recreation, fish and wildlife in the Rio Grande Basin. Detailed investigations of the San Juan-Chama Project should be completed in the near future. Project reports for this project and the Navajo Irrigation Project, mentioned above, will be submitted simultaneously to interested States under the terms of the 1944 Flood Control Act. -55- |