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Water Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin divert water into the canals, and completing numerous related tasks, the district's financial support was inadequate to achieve its objectives. Hence, in the 1940s and 1950s, the district asked the federal government for help. The BuRec responded by providing financial assistance to the district and by constructing, operating, and maintaining facilities above, within, and below the District's boundaries. In 1951 the BuRec acquired all the district's existing debt and received in return, as a security interest, the district's property rights to its works. The BuRec rehabilitated El Vado Dam; repaired the diversion dams at Cochiti, Angostura, Isleta, and San Acacia; conducted extensive work on the district's canals; and channeled 127 miles of the river (Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District 1993). The total cost ofthe project was $35 million, of which MRGCD was to reimburse $16 million from irrigation revenues. '~~ ~~; "" ~ '~! lh ~~ The district resumed control over many operational and maintenance functions in 1965. The BuRec continues to operate El Vado Dam, however, and to conduct about $3-5 million of annual channel-maintenance activities within the district's boundaries (ECONorthwest 1996). '.~~: .,'. :. ~~ .,.j :~ ';, ,." The MRGCD claims water rights to irrigate 123,267 acres at a rate 2.1 af of consumptive use per acre (Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District 1993). Hence, it claims consumptive rights to 258,861 af/yr and diverts water from the river at this rate, or even higher. In practice, however, the MRGCD irrigates considerably less acreage, about 54,000 acres per year over the past decade. Wilson (1992) estimated that the consumptive use of water on this land in 1990 was 131,000 af. l :-"S ;:-': '::~:l Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID). This irrigation district manages the irrigation use of water in Sierra and Dona Ana Counties of New Mexico. The district is responsible for managing the operation and maintenance of three diversion dams, 300 miles of drains, and 400 miles of canals/laterals (Esslinger 1995). Both the acreage irrigated and the level of water consumption have declined over the past several decades (U.S. Depart- ment of the Interior 1995a). Between 1950 and 1990 irrigated acreage fell from more than 85,000 to less than 80,000 acres, and the irrigation consumptive use from almost 280,000 afto less than 225,000 af. Deliveries to farmers in 1995 totaled 254,849 af, averaging 3.3 afper acre to the 1,489 full-time and 1,151 part-time farms. EBID's primary crop production R<" lit ;:J! ~{ ,.--, ::: 26 fJ l) Q 5 '~J I... v . f::-!. :;~ f~, 1)~~