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<br /><'1 <br />,4a <br />c.1 <br /> <br />Addressing the Basin's Problems <br /> <br />0~' <br />"Yl <br />,-.:~J <br /> <br />all parties agree is unbiased. Four, it must be supported by sufficient <br />political will so that all parties know their concessions to the process will <br />yield political benefits and, conversely, any actions to undermine the process <br />will result in political, public-relations, or legal sanctions. <br /> <br />:";, ~ <br />~Yi <br /> <br /> <br />B. Cooperative Efforts in the Basin <br /> <br />.;i! <br />? <br /> <br />This basin is more widely known for its disputes over resource management <br />than for cooperative efforts to resolve the disputes. The level of distrust <br />among different interest groups is high and few individuals or institutions <br />are widely perceived as neutral and capable of bringing groups together. <br />Disagreement and contentiousness are deeply institutionalized. <br /> <br />., <br /> <br />Despite these difficulties, however, there is a long and expanding history of <br />attempts to bring about cooperation in the Basin. Cooperative management <br />of water and other resources typifies the activities of the pueblos and acequia <br />associations, with traditions reaching back centuries. Recent <br />events-notably the listing of the Rio Grande silvery minnow as a federal <br />endangered species, the realization that the largest metropolitan areas are <br />running out of groundwater, and the drought of 1996-have opened new <br />avenues for cooperation. A complete description, even a listing, of <br />cooperative efforts in the Basin is beyond the scope ofthis study. It is useful, <br />however, to examine some of these efforts, to place them in the context of the <br />problems described in Chapter 3, and use them as a basis for looking to the <br />future. <br /> <br />;j <br /> <br />'<, <br />" <br /> <br /><, <br /> <br />" ~' <br /> <br />'.:. <br /> <br />1. Rio Grande Compact <br /> <br />it <br />;., <br /> <br />"S: <br /> <br />The Rio Grande Compact lies in the background of all efforts to cooperatively <br />address problems regarding the management of the Basin's water and <br />related resources. Virtually all cooperative activities in the Basin must take <br />the Compact into account. We describe the major features of the Compact <br />elsewhere and here only recount some of the features that bear most heavily <br />on cooperative efforts. Foremost among these is the Compact's overarching <br />focus on protecting the quantitative distribution of surface water among the <br />three states as it existed sixty years ago. <br /> <br />Many express the belief, however, that the Compact has not provided a good <br />forum for addressing issues other than quantities of surface water passing <br /> <br />(., r t) C Q n <br />0.;,-"".:.. <br /> <br />111 <br />