WSP08819

• File Number: 8583
• Description: Rio Grande Decision Support System
• State: CO
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Water Division: 3
• Date: 3/1/1996
• Author: Dept of the Interior
• Title: 1996 Calendar Year Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Upper Colorado Region
Albuquerque Area Office
1996 Calendar Year Report to the
Rio Grande Compact Commission

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INTRODUCTION

The Albuquerque Area Office of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is responsible
for operation, maintenance, and/or oversight of four projects on the mainstem of the
Rio Grande and its upper basin tributaries. These projects are: the San Luis Valley
Project, the San Juan-Chama Project, the Middle Rio Grande Project, and the Rio
Grande Project.

The San Luis Valley Project consists of Conejos Division (Platoro Reservoir) and the
ground water salvage project known as the Closed Basin Division.

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The San Juan-Chama Project consists of a system of diversion structures and tunnels
for transbasin movement of water from the San Juan River Basin to the Rio Grande
Basin, as a component of the Colorado River Storage Project. The San Juan-Chama
Project provides water from storage in Heron Reservoir for municipal, domestic,
industrial, recreation, and fish and wildlife purposes within the State of New Mexico
and also provides supplemental water for irrigation.

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The Middle Rio Grande Project consists of EI Vado Dam and Reservoir and irrigation
and drainage facilities in the middle Rio Grande Valley, as well as river channel
maintenance from Velarde, New Mexico, southward to Caballo Reservoir, It also
includes the Low Flow Conveyance Channel south of San Acacia, New Mexico.
Together, these projects supply water for more than 173,000 acres of irrigated land.

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The Rio Grande Project includes Elephant Butte and Caballo Dams and Reservoirs, as
well as irrigation and drainage facilities in the lower Rio Grande Valley of southern New
Mexico and just downstream of EI Paso, Texas. The portion of the Rio Grande Project
above Percha Diversion Dam is the responsibility of the Elephant Butte Field Division.
The EI Paso Field Division is responsible for facilities of the Rio Grande Project from
Percha Diversion Dam downstream and for coordinating water release rates from
Caballo Reservoir, Both field divisions are under the jurisdiction of the Albuquerque
Area Office. Rio Grande Project responsibilities include operation and maintenance of
the two dams and reservoirs and reservoir releases that furnish an irrigation water
supply for about 178,000 acres of land designated within the Elephant Butte Irrigation
District in New Mexico and the EI Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 in
Texas. The project also releases irrigation waters from Caballo Reservoir for diversion

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