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)~j ~:j I'" ~.iJ , "... ~~ Appendix A ." ,." C'J .~:'~ !'...) Physical Structures That Control the Upper Rio Grande *.-," . ~~ Federal agencies, along with local partners, have invested heavily in controlling the Rio Grande. Since 1905, when Congress authorized the Rio Grande Project to control the river in the Middle Rio Grande area, the river " . ~i [H]as been converted from an essentially natural stream to a highly modified water storage and conveyance system with extensive flood control structures. . . More recent changes. . . enhance conveyance and irrigation. . . Dams and levees have all but eliminated former seasonal floods that in the past provided nutrients and moisture to the floodplain ecosystem. Former floodplain regions have been converted to productive agricultural lands and, more recently, to urban communities. Irrigation diversions create low-flow conditions, and at times a dry river bed, in much of the reach downstream of Bernalillo (Bullard and Wells 1992). , ~;~ ; ~~: ;"~' Major facilities along the Upper Rio Grande include several dams: Rio Grande, Continental, Santa Maria, Platoro, Cochiti, Elephant Butte, and Caballo. Above Cochiti there are two major dams, Abiquiu and El Vado, on the Rio Chama, a major tributary of the Rio Grande, and the San Juan-Chama transmountain diversion project, which diverts water from the San Juan Basin to the Rio Chama. Below Cochiti there are two dams on tributaries: Jemez, located on the Jemez River, and Galisteo, located on Galisteo Creek. There are numerous diversion dams along the Upper Rio Grande supporting irrigation activities in the three states. Also important is the low.flow conveyance channel (LFCC), a canal originally designed to reduce transportation "losses" by expediting the flow of water from San Acacia to Elephant Butte Reservoir. We briefly describe each facility. I.... :;;. ::~ ;.~ ,:.1 (, " Platoro Reservoir 'i f ., Authorized under the 1941 Interior Appropriation Act and completed in 1951 by the Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec), the reservoir is near the headwaters of the Conejos River, 80 miles upstream from the confluence of the Conejos and the Rio Grande. Of the 60,000 acre-feet (at) of capacity, 6,000 af is reserved for flood control while the remainder is dedicated for storage. Shortly after the dam's authorization, the Conejos Water Conservancy District formed to sponsor the project and to begin repayment of the costs allocated to irrigation. In 1991, the Conejos Water Conservancy District paid off the federal government with a loan from the Colorado Conservation Board and subsequently took over the operation of the reservoir. Operation of Platoro Dam reverts to the U.s. Army Corps of Engineers (CoE) during flood control operations. /'(3'"3''' ,~I ..., I