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/j j . """1 j Maior Physical, Legal, and Institutional Characteristics ;"{; ::::-: ,j at some locations and times. Currently, the recognized rights of pueblos in the Middle Rio Grande Valley total 18,579 af of consumptive use, or about 6 percent of the Valley's total. (Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District 1993). ,",' .) Non-Indian Federal Water Rights. The federal government has some rights to water through its role as steward of natural resources, its ownership oflands in the territories prior to and following statehood, and its ownership of rights to water created by the construction of dams and related facilities. Many ofthese rights have not been clearly defined although federal water rights have been or are in the process of being adjudicated. There is some ambiguity, for example, about the federal government's rights to water in the Rio Grande Project. The BuRec holds that all of the water in the Rio Grande from Elephant Butte Dam to Fort Quitman is appropriated for use of the Rio Grande Project and it disposes ofthis water through contracts with the Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID), the El Paso County Water Improvement District (EPCWID), and other entities. New Mexico, however, has not fully adjudicated water rights in the Basin and those who put water to a beneficial use prior to 1907 are not required to have a water-use permit. It is possible, therefore, that a court could determine that many of the pre-1907 claims have priority over the BuRec's rights. :::i ,;., ~.~ "~' :::: ',,< .", Matters are made more complicated because the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission has not accepted the BuRec's position that it owns all waters to Ft. Quitman. Instead, it asserts that, once the water passes into Texas, all authority over the water passes to the state (U.S. Depart- ment of the Interior 1995a). > U.S.-Mexican Water Treaty of 1906. In the 1880s water shortages near El Paso began to materialize, largely because of extensive irrigation development in Colorado and, to a lesser extent, New Mexico. Mexicans living near Ciudad Juarez complained to their government that the upstream developments were violating their long-established and prior rights to the river's water. The Mexican government subsequently filed a claim for damages with the U.S. government and, in 1906, the two nations signed a treaty, under which the U.S. guarantees to provide Mexico with 60,000 af of water annually at the International Dam at Ciudad Juarez, except during periods of extreme drought. The BuRec subsequently built Elephant Butte Dam, largely to help ensure the nation's ability to meet this obligation. , :, j;rnc.i:l , ,......J, 21