Animas-La Plata Underway At Last

摘要

Work is finally underway on what is billed as the Bureau of Reclamation's last great Western dam project, the long-awaited Ani-mas-La Plata Project near Durango, Colo. With virtually no fanfare, work began this spring with site preparation for the Durango pumping plant that will lift water from the Animas River into Ridges Basin Reservoir some two miles and 510 feet uphill from the plant. Indian tribes. The latter beneficiaries would have century-old water rights claims settled by construction of the originally envisioned dams and reservoirs. As first designed, with a dam and reservoir on both its namesake rivers, Animas-La Plata would have cost an estimated $710 million. Strong opposition, even from the federal government during the Clinton administration, led to major downsizing of the project, project will provide water only for municipalities and the two Indian tribes (who must build their own facilities to access the water stored in Ridges Basin Reservoir).