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<br />Waler Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin <br /> <br />for the remainder. These figures are general calculations based on gross <br />inflows and outflows, reflecting the absence, until recently, of instrument a- <br />tion to measure diversions and returns. <br /> <br />About 10 percent ofthe water reaching Elephant Butte Reservoir is "lost" so <br />that, on average, more than 600,000 afis released from the dam. Water is <br />released for three primary users: Mexico as stipulated in the U.S.-Mexican <br />Water Treaty, the Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID) in southern <br />New Mexico, and the El Paso County Water Improvement District <br />(EPCWID). Mexico receives 60,000 af/yr under the terms of the 1906 treaty. <br />The remainder of the water is allocated, 57 percent to EBID and 43 percent <br />to EPCWID. <br /> <br />In the past, the water released from Elephant Butte was used almost <br />exclusively for agricultural irrigation. Continued urban growth in southern <br />New Mexico and west Texas, however, has increased urban demand. <br />Whatever water is in the river below El Paso and Ciudad Juarez generally <br />includes return flow from municipal waste water and irrigators. The quality <br />and reliability of this water is low and is used for agricultural production <br />through the Hudspeth Irrigation District on a first-come, first-served basis. <br /> <br />~. <br /> <br />About 100 miles below El Paso at Ft. Quitman, the Rio Grande essentially <br />goes dry. It resurfaces as other tributaries, especially the Pecos from the <br />north and the Rio Conchos from the south, enter near Big Bend, Texas. <br /> <br />Ii <br /> <br />3. Groundwater <br /> <br />1~; <br />. <br /> <br />Most municipal-industrial uses of water in the Basin rely on groundwater. <br />Groundwater supplies are not spread evenly in the Basin, but are most <br />plentiful where the Rio Grande and its prehistoric predecessors filled-in <br />geologic depressions with both sediment and water. Groundwater is pumped <br />most extensively in the San Luis Valley in Colorado, the Middle Rio Grande <br />Valley in New Mexico, in southern New Mexico south of Elephant Butte <br />Dam, and near El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. <br /> <br />,', <br />f <br />, <br /> <br />i.. <br /> <br />Albuquerque derives its water from the Albuquerque Basin, which, in some <br />places has water-bearing deposits extending to a depth of about 15,000 feet <br />and, for a long period residents in the major cities believed that most of this <br />water was readily available (Bureau of Reclamation, Middle Rio Grande <br />Assessment Preliminary Discussion Draft). A common sentiment was that <br /> <br />" <br />, <br />, <br />, <br /> <br />~ <br />" <br /> <br />6 <br /> <br />r" "88" <br />.'.. '- I) <br /> <br />~ <br />~, <br />