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Law 92-514-October 20, 1972, the Closed Basin Project deliveries are categorized into four types of uses: • Priority one deliveries are made to assist the State of Colorado in meeting its compact commitments to New Mexico and Texas. These deliveries are limited to an average of 60,000 acre- feet per year over any 10-year period. • Priority two deliveries are made to enhance wildlife in the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge and Blanca Wildlife Habitat Area. These deliveries are limited to 5,300 acre-feet per year. • Priority three deliveries were applied to reduce and eliminate any accumulated deficit in compact deliveries that existed when the legislation was enabled. Priority three deliveries no longer apply since the pre-legislation debt was eliminated when Elephant Butte Reservoir spilled in 1985. • Priority four deliveries are available at a charge from unused supply for general use by Rio Grande and Conejos water users after priority one and two users have been satisfied. 3.2 Conejos River The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) prepared a report in 1947 recommending the construction of Platoro Reservoir in the Conejos River basin. This reservoir was built from 1949 to 1951 with a capacity of approximately 60,000 acre-feet that includes a 6,000 acre-foot flood pool. Platoro Reservoir is decreed for 53,571 acre-feet. Because this reservoir was built after the compact was signed, it is referred to as a post-compact reservoir and is subject to special restrictions under the compact. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assumes operation of Platoro Reservoir during flood control situations. 4.0 Water Administration Issues Colorado administers water according to the prior appropriation doctrine (first in time, first in right). The appropriation and adjudication dates decreed by the water court are the basis for determining which users are entitled to the river flow during periods when there is insufficient water for all appropriators. Ground water usage complicates water administration in the Rio Grande basin because the hydraulic connection between the surface water system and the confined and unconfined aquifers is not well understood. It is clear that this connection does affect streamflow, and for this reason irrigation well drilling is restricted by the State Engineer's Office. New well permits have been restricted for non-Closed Basin aquifers since 1970 and for the Closed Basin unconfined aquifer since 1981. The Colorado State Engineer and his agents, the Division 3 (Rio Grande basin) Engineer, staff, and water commissioners, administer the water rights to both surface and ground water in the Colorado portion of the Rio Grande basin as decreed by the water court. Water administration issues in the basin intensified in the 1970s and continue today with strict compliance with the compact. 4.1 Rio Grande Compact Rio Grande water administration is greatly influenced by the Rio Grande Compact. The Rio Grande Compact was signed by the Compact Commissioners of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas on March 18, 1938. The following two major purposes were identified by Colorado's original Compact Commissioner, M.C. Hinderlider (1938): 1. To "protect the present and future use of water in the various sections of the Rio Grande basin by setting up schedules of delivery of water at the Colorado New Mexico state line and at San Marcial, which is at the head of the Elephant Butte Reservoir, and by fixing the average annual releases from Elephant Butte Reservoir." 2. To "permit the construction and operation of additional reservoirs above Elephant Butte Reservoir to regulate the water which otherwise would spill from Elephant Butte Reservoir and be lost for beneficial use in the basin." While the interpretation of the compact is complex and always under debate, these purposes are offered for general background. They do not represent any official position of the State of Colorado or any water user.