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Executive Summary -;\ The U.S. must deliver 60,000 af of this to Mexico. Heavy agricultural use in southern New Mexico and western Texas, together with growing municipal consumption in the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez area, deplete the river so that it generally goes dry before reaching Ft. Quitman. ".- ~i Agriculture accounts for about 89 percent of the major water uses (typically associated with withdrawals or diversions) in the Basin. The remainder goes to municipal and industrial use, primarily in the Middle Rio Grande Valley and in the El Paso area. The Basin's cities have relied on groundwater but El Paso (population about 650,000) and her Mexican neighbor, Ciudad Juarez (more than 1.5 million), as well as Albuquerque (about 650,000) recently recognized they cannot long continue mining groundwater at historical rates. El Paso has begun using surface water from the Rio Grande and Albuquerque is examining similar options. ! ": '::;,~ '-:1 Sediment levels in the river are high for most of its length. Intense agricultural use in the southern parts ofthe Basin increase the water's salinity and add nutrients and agricultural chemicals. The shallow aquifers near urban centers, which provide water for many low-income households, exhibit pollution from septic systems and hazardous-chemical spills. Effluent from municipal wastewater-treatment plants frequently fails to meet water-quality standards and surface water near urban centers is not potable and often not suitable for human contact. Water from the deep aquifers under Albuquerque and El Paso-Ciudad Juarez often includes elevated levels of dissolved solids, such as arsenic. -;'-1 < Human settlements in the Basin have diverted water from the river for centuries, and competition for water has long been intense. Friction among the states led to the 1938 Rio Grande Compact, which stipulates the fractions of available water that Colorado must deliver to New Mexico, and New Mexico to Texas. The allocations in the Compact reflect the agrarian economy and the distribution of agricultural activity that existed at the end ofthe 1920s, not today's highly urbanized economy. Much of the agricultural development reflected in the Compact occurred in the upper end ofthe Basin, but most oftoday's economic growth is occurring farther south, in El Paso- Ciudad Juarez and Albuquerque. ~ Diversions of water from the river, construction of dams and other structures in the river bed, manipulation of the hydrograph, modification of the channel, and control of vegetation have extensively modified the riverine- riparian ecosystem. The reach below Elephant Butte Dam is largely a '..' 'JeG~ "..",0 V S-3