The project will allow the Utes to draw their full allocation of water from the Dolores Project. By Jim Mimiaga Cortez Journal Tuesday s ceremony marking the completion of 110 center-pivot sprinklers on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian reservation was distinctly casual, with local dignitaries mingling with jocular workers against a backdrop of circle farms and distant desert mountains. Yet the occasion was at the same time momentous.
Water is our economic base.
It represents our survival. This is an extremely proud day for not only Utes, but for all Indian communities. Ernest House, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe chairman Since 1993, the Ute Farm and Ranch Enterprise has been installing the mammoth center-pivot systems, farming the newly irrigated areas along the way. House praised the cooperative spirit between the tribe and non-Indian movers and shakers who worked to satisfy Ute water claims delivered through the Dolores Project completed in 1988. Representatives of the Bureau of Reclamation, the Dolores Water Conservancy District and the Bureau of Indian Affairs were on hand for the ceremony.