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"5(--: ,"'),_ J.J 2 The Radosevich and Rutz r~portt cited extensively above, provides a concise summary of the tangle of conflicting interest ~hich confound the ~ater situation in the Valley and also explains the Rio Grande Co~pact about as clearly as that cOTilplex document can be explained. Those who are interest"t:"d in these complicated subjects are referred to that report. Without intending to oversi~plify the San Luis Valleyls water situation, it is not an unco~mon 50rt of problem. A critical resource (water) is available in limited supply. It is in every individual's interest to secure as much of that valuable resource as he can for 11i~self. Thus, it follows that it is in no individual's interest to restrain his dernllnds. The small contribution they can make will not be noticed or would be con- sumed by their neighbors in any case. As every individual maximizes use of the resource, a critical strain is put on it, often to everyone's loss. .- After a long series of dry years near the end of the 19th century, farmers along the entire length of the Rio Grande Valley found that the river, ~hich had adequateLy met their needs for centuries, no longer provided enough ~ater. They looked north to the river's San Luis Valley headwaters. rhey saw the valley-wide system of irrigation canals which industrious Colorado pioneers had just completed. They complained (not ~ithout justice). rhe complaints of the Repuhlic of Mexico \.1ere the first to receive attention. In 1896, the Department of the Interior stopped granting rights-of-~ay across Federal lands for the construction of reservoirs. In 1906, a treaty providing for the delivery of 60,000 acre-feet per year of Rio Grande water to the Republic of Mexico was signed. A major reason for the 1916 construction of Elephant Butte Reservoir in New ~lexico was so that this commitment could be met. -, The Federal Government's injunction on right-DE-way grants was a response to a problem with international ramifications which could not be solved very quickly (if at all) on the local level. rhe injunction, when combined ~ith threatened lawsuits from do~nstream water users, hampered the develop~ent of reservoirs needed to serve the San Luis Valley. In spite of this, the Valley managed to privately fund and construct five reservoirs bet~een 1910 and 1913 (Rio Grande/Farmer's Union, Santa Maria, Continental, La Jara, and Terrace Reservoirs). OurinR the same general period) eight major irrigation drains were constructed to reclaim some 90,000 acres of land which were being ruined by becoming waterlogged. Similar attempts were made to save the east central Valley but this proved beyond the means of the private sector. Continued diversion of irrigation water into this area turned much of the soil into adobe and caused al~alai to build up on the surface. Agriculture in the Valley has moved continually west since then. rhousands of acres ~hich were once hailed as the best wheat land in Colorado and perhaps the world, became a barren salt waste. Discussions between the States of Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado on the subject of their respective Rio Grande ~ater rights began in the early part of the century. A temporary cimpact ~as agreed to in 1928. rhe formal Compact was ratified by the States' legislatures in 1939.