Laserfiche WebLink
Introduction <br />1.4 Water Administration Issues <br />Colorado administers water according to the prior appropriation doctrine (first in time, first in right). <br />The appropriation and adjudication dates decreed by the water court are the basis for determining <br />which users are entitled to the river flow during periods when there is insufficient water for all <br />appropriators. Ground water usage complicates water administration in the Rio Grande basin because <br />the hydraulic connection between the surface water system and the confined and unconfined aquifers <br />is not well understood. It is clear that this connection does affect streamflow, and for this reason <br />irrigation well drilling is restricted by the State Engineer's Office. New well permits have been <br />restricted for non-Closed Basin aquifers since 1970 and for the Closed Basin unconfined aquifer since <br />1981. The Colorado State Engineer and his agents, the Division 3 (Rio Grande basin) Engineer, staff, <br />and water commissioners, administer the water rights to both surface and ground water in the <br />Colorado portion of the Rio Grande basin as decreed by the water court. Water administration issues <br />in the basin intensified in the 1970s and continue today with strict compliance with the compact. <br />1.4.1 Rio Grande Compact <br />Rio Grande water administration is greatly influenced by the Rio Grande Compact. The Rio Grande <br />Compact was signed by the Compact Commissioners of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas on March <br />18, 1938. The following two major purposes were identified by Colorado's original Compact <br />Commissioner, M.C. Hinderlider (1938): <br />1. To "protect the present and future use of water in the various sections of the Rio Grande basin <br />by setting up schedules of delivery of water at the Colorado New Mexico state line and at San <br />Marcial, which is at the head of the Elephant Butte Reservoir, and by fixing the average <br />annual releases from Elephant Butte Reservoir." <br />2. To "permit the construction and operation of additional reservoirs above Elephant Butte <br />Reservoir to regulate the water which otherwise would spill from Elephant Butte Reservoir <br />and be lost for beneficial use in the basin." <br />While the interpretation of the compact is complex and always under debate, these purposes are <br />offered for general background. They do not represent any official position of the State of Colorado <br />or any water user. <br />The Rio Grande Compact sets annual state line delivery obligations for Colorado based on the <br />amount of flow at the index gaging stations within Colorado. Compact deliveries are not required to <br />strictly adhere to the compact delivery tables on an annual basis; therefore, the compact accounts for <br />over-deliveries (credits) and under-deliveries (debits) that may be carried forward. Provisions of the <br />compact relate Colorado's compact obligations and its accumulation of credits and debits to storage <br />levels at the Rio Grande Project, a major storage and irrigation project in New Mexico and Texas of <br />which Elephant Butte Reservoir is the major feature. <br />A major provision of the compact permits Colorado to increase consumptive uses of water from the <br />Rio Grande and the Conejos River to the extent that deliveries to the state line are satisfied or <br />replaced with deliveries from the Closed Basin Project. <br />1.4.2 Ability to Meet Compact Obligations <br />Colorado had difficulty in meeting its compact obligations from 1952 through the onset of rigorous <br />surface water administration in 1968. During this time, Colorado accrued a substantial debit under the <br />compact. Several studies have been performed to better understand why Colorado's debits were so <br />a454/report/fmaUintro.doc 07/2&~OS 1-6 <br />