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<br />;'i}"' ' <br /> <br />o <br />'lII:l" <br />ocT\ <br />.,..j <br />Q <br />o <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />the federal government remove its embargo on the rights-of-way over public <br />lands. But money to construct the reservoirs could not be raised because <br />of threatened litigation. <br />In 1929, a temporary compact was entered into among Colorado, New Mexico <br />and Texas which attempted to maintain the status quo upon the river until <br />a permanent compact could be negotiated. The temporary compact required <br />that gauging stations be maintained and operated upon the river to collect <br />information on stream flow. The initial compact was to last for five years <br />but it was subsequently extended for two more years. <br />Finally in 1938, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas signed the Rio Grande <br />River Compact.3 The specific terms of the Compact will be examined in <br />greater detail later in this report. <br /> <br />However the Compact did .not solve the water shortage problem in the <br />Rio Grande Basin and by 1965 Colorado was accused by Texas and New Mexico of <br /> <br />being more than 900,000 acre feet behind its delivery commitments under <br /> <br />the terms of the Rio Grande River Compact. The next year Texas and New <br />Mexico filed suit against Colorado in the United States Supreme Court. <br />The case was subsequently continued provided that Colorado annually meets <br />its delivery commitments pursuant to the terms of the Rio Grande River <br />Compact.4 Until the latter part of 1975, Colorado attempted annually to <br /> <br />regulate water use in the San Luis Valley by means of voluntary compliance <br />on the part of the water users in the Valley with an annual set of operating <br />criteria negotiated by the State Engineer, the Rio Grande Water Users <br /> <br />.3Radosevich, G., D. Hamburg and L. Swick, Colorado Water Laws, pp. 1- <br />112 to 122; Appendix D. <br /> <br />4Texas, et al. vs. Colorado, Original No. 29, (October Term, 1966). <br />