WSP09378

• File Number: 8200.200
• Description: Colorado River - Basin Hydrology
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 4/9/1993
• Author: CRWUA
• Title: Colorado River Profiles
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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Allotment of Colorado
~Biver \.\'ater:
843,750 acre-feet

Percentage-ofallncation
.that is developed:
94 percent

Population served by
Colorado River water
92,000 in nOlihwe6tern~ew
M'exieo,entireIy, plus por-
tions of Santa Fe's 550,000
and Albuquerque's 384,000

Irrigated acres serve'd by
Colorado Ri"ercwater:
60,000 currently; 120,100
additional upon completion
of projects'

Major crops under ~n;ig3tion:
ifilfalfa. wheAlt. potatoes,
corn, pit~,to beans,,- oni~n&.
sni'all ~in5 and pastuI"(>

~el'centag.e :of contl'ibutlori of
Colora(lo Riv(~r water to nH'et~
ing-state's needs:
60 pel"cent~

A,v('rage precipitation in areas
ofstate'seived by Colorado
River water:
6 - ]2 inches

Watershed area in sq\1are
milt'~:
5,516

Faciti'ies whicb deliver
Colorado' ru ver w~ter;
Navajo Indian Irrigation
Project; the cities,'of Aztec.
Bloomfield and, Fauuingtoll;
San juan~Chama
TransIDoiHlla,in Diversion
Project. Hanunoild
Project, the Cudei/HQgback
Project. and Navajo Dam.

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The state of New Mexico
consists of a total of ]2].666
square miles in land area,
with approximately 5,948
miles of perennial streams
and an estimated 482,000
acres of wetlands.
Long-term streamflow
records show that New
Mexico receives an annual
water snpply of about 5.7
million acre-feet.
Precipitation within the
state accounts for about 3.3
million acre-feet; and about
2.4 million acre~feet are
received as streamflow
from other states, primarily
from Colorado via the San
Juan River and thc Rio
Grande. New Mexico
depletes about. 2.3 million
acre-feet of surface water
annually and about 3.4 mil-
lion acre-feet are dis-
charged each year to down-
stream states.
New Mexico is divided
into six major drainage
basins. That portion of
New Mexico which impacts
the Colorado River is
located within the upper
basin. The Animas and La
Plata rivers are tributaries
of the San Jnan River, a
major tributary of the
Colorado.
The San Juan, Animas
and La Plata rivers flow
from Colorado through
San Jnan County, New
Mexico and serve the cities

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of Aztec, Bloomfield,
Farmington and the unin-
corporated rural areas of
San Juan County, for a
total popnlation of 92,000.
Although San Jnan County
comprises only 4.5 percent
of the land area in New
Mexico, more than 50 per-
cent of the state's surface
water flows through it. The
state engineer has deter-
mined that the three princi-
pal rivers are fully appro-
priated and is granting no
additional rights to use of
that water.
In order to develop New
Mexico's ]1.24 percent of
its share of Colorado River
water, under the 1948
Upper Colorado River

Basin Compact, the
Bureau of Reclamation
constructed the Navajo
Unit of the Colorado River
Storage Project (CRSP).
Completed in 1962, its
main feature, Navajo Dam,
was constructed on the San
Juan River with a
1,708,600 acre-foot capaci-
ty reservoir that extends
into Colorado.
Among its many purpos-
es, Navajo Dam provides
water to the Navajo Indian
Irrigation Project for irri-
gating lands on the Navajo
reservation, the nation's

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