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25 .~-:---., .': .........., (D '.::t" ""'l z.:..-, C) 8. Other Entities. Groups and entities 'such as the Rio Grande Compact Commission, the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, the U.S. Crops of Army Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Secretary of the Interior through the 8ureau of Land Management, among others, all have an impact on water rights and water administration within the San Luis Valley. It is evident from the above listing that the Valley is fragmented among many different entities with overlapping responsibilities and duties. The organizations were generally created to improve the water use conditions, and as such, have been a important force in the historical development of irrigation and water use in the Valley. IV. PROBLEMS AND CONFLICTS IN THE VALLEY In spite of the progress and partly because of it, conflicts between surface water diverters and ground water users intensifies each year. The growing pressures and constraints are best evidenced by several pending legal cases and administrative action that preceded the litigation. These events are considered bench markets in the legal history of the Valley. The first was the enactment in 1959 of the Water Rights Administration and Determination Act, which required the integration of ground and surface water, the tabulation of all water rights on a basin-wide basis rather than a tributary basis as was done in the past, and a centralization of judicial handling of water matters in division water courts. As a result of this Act, the various water districts of the State, numbering 70 at that time, ~~ were reorganized into seven divisions with a division engineer and a water court in each division. Each division engineer was given the responsibility of developing a basin-wide ranking of water rights within his division. In 1973 the tabulation of water rights was published.