WSP11716

• File Number: 8507
• Description: Rio Grande Project
• State: CO
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Date: 7/1/1997
• Title: Water Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin part 1
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Major Physical, Legal, and Institutional Characteristics

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Table 1.2.-Federal water-management agencies and facilities in the
Upper Rio Grande Basin

Agency

Army Corps of
Engineers (CoE)

Primary activities

Operation and maintenance of
dams and reservoirs, levee
construction, and protection

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Bureau of
Reclamation (BuRec)

Operation and maintenance of
dams and reservoirs, and
channel ization

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International
Boundary and Water
Commission (IBWC)

Provision of water to Mexico,
channelization

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Major projects and facilities

Cochiti, Jemez, Galisteo,
Nambe, and Abiquiu Dams in
New Mexico, Middle Rio
Grande Flood Protection Project

Rio Grande Project: Elephant
Butte Dam, Caballo Dam, five
diversion dams
Middle Rio Grande Project:
Low-Flow Conveyance Channel
San Juan-Chama Project:
diversion dams and tunnels,
Heron Dam
Closed Basin Project

American Diversion Dam, Rio
Grande Canalization Project

of resources and thus, the survival of communities and economies.. Both
types of concerns are surrounded with much uncertainty about the ecology,
hydrology, and economy of the Basin. This lack of knowledge makes is
difficult to assess the impacts of specific activities on the use of resources in
the Basin and the ecosystem as a whole.

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The institutions regulating water use in the Basin evolved in the context,
and for the support, of diversionary uses, such as agriculture and
municipal-industrial (hydroelectric generation in the Basin is negligible).
These institutions do not adjust easily to the demands for instream flows
that are emerging as commodities become a smaller component ofthe
economy, urban residents extend their interest in the management of rural
resources, natural-resource amenities exert a greater influence on local
standards of living, and scientists better understand the interconnected

8 See, for example, Aquatic Ecosystems Symposium: A Report to the Western Water Policy
Review Advisory Commission (Minckley, ed. 1997).

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