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~ " Ii An Overview of the Basin's Resource-Management Problems -".., pulse13 were able to get the release spread out over about three months. At the same time, water users below the dam accelerated their withdrawals from Elephant Butte Reservoir to dilute the salinity from agricultural runoff, but with the effect of reducing the probability that a spill would occur. In the end, the three states did not agree that a "spill" occurred. The net result, however, was that, because ofthe institutional and legal system for managing the river and the parties' attempts to manipulate the system to their respective advantage, abnormally large amounts of water flowed through the system just as it became apparent that runoff in the Basin in 1996 would be at near-record drought levels. , ::.. ~~ {...... Subsequent events reveal even more about how some of the laws, rules, and institutions governing the management of the Basin's water and related resources are based on yesterday's models of the ecosystem and the economy, and disregard the realities of the competition for these resources. Ai3 the severity of the potential drought became more apparent early in 1996, MRGCD accelerated its calls for water to be released from Cochiti and diverted even more water than usual from the river (Miller 1996). In the Socorro Reach, for example, MRGCD's withdrawals from the river in March were about 230 cubic feet per second (cfs), compared with 160 cfs, the district's approximate average for the preceding decade. Thus, with runoff at one of the lowest levels on record and in the face of severe drought, the district's response was not to conserve water, but to use it even more intensely. MRGCD's diversion of all water from the river and the subsequent death of about 40 percent of the population of Rio Grande silvery minnows eventually prompted preliminary legal action seeking to prevent further occurrences. ~~; ~~: .;: :~ Other parties responded differently. Recognizing that the drought posed especially severe consequences for the Rio Grande silvery minnow and other environmental resources, the BuRec, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, CoE, City of Albuquerque, and others, including MRGCD, worked to locate water that could be spared elsewhere and dedicated their efforts to ensuring that it remained instream. In other words and from an economics perspective, they .. ':., is The natural hydrograph peaks in the spring and early summer. Hence, the proposed pulse in the winter could have dramatically affected species, such as the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow, whose life cycles are tied to the normal hydrograph (Jeft'Whitney, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, personal communication). i";,,2984 103