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THE ADMINISTRATION OF TIlE RIO GRANDE COMPACT IN COLORADO Introduction The Rio Grande Compact requires Colorado to annually deliver certain amounts of water to the Stateline according to the delivery schedules in Article III. On any given year this can require from 25 to 50 percent of the water .generated in the Rio Grande and Conejos River basins to arrive at the Lobatos gage just above the border with New Mexico. Since the diverters have the capability of diverting and using most of the water generated in both basins, it is necessary that a process be in place that enables the StIlte to ensure that her obligation is met. One can imagine the turmoil that can be generated when water is bypassed to the State line when there is a significant demand for that water in Colorado from the water rights owners on the rivers. A great amount of work was required by the State and the water users in the San Luis Valley to reach an administrative scheme that allowed Colorado to use her entitlements under the Compact and still meet her obligations to the downstream states. Since 1939, the administration of the Rio Grande Compact in Colorado has been an evolutionary process marked by three distinct periods. The first period from 1939-1967 was a time when the Colorado officials made the decision to continue with the administration of water rights as they had during the study period of 1927 to 1936. This action worked well until 1952 when Colorado under delivered approximately 154,000 acre-feet. The reasons for this under-delivery are largely unknown, but it began a period of under deliveries and accrued debit that continued until 1967 when that accrued debit reached approximately 940,000 acre-feet. The year before that, in 1966, the States of Texas and New Mexico had brought an action against Colorado in the U.S. Supreme Court to force Colorado to comply with the provisions of the Compact. In May of 1968, the Court granted the three states and the U.S. a stipulation for continuance of the case as long as Colorado met her Compact obligation until she was once again in compliance. The second period, from 1968 to 1985, Colorado administered the Compact pursuant to the stipulation and was forced to determine a way to curtail water rights in a manner that would allow the appropriate delivery of water to the Lobatos gage near the Stateline. Since this administrative scenario had never been attempted, the State Engineer entered a very difficult time of working with the water users on both the Conejos River and the Rio Grande to determine how this issue might be resolved. In 1975, after several years of negotiated informal annual operative criteria. the State Engineer promulgated rules and regulations for the intrastate administration of the Compact on each river and as between the two rivers. [n 1979, the numerous protests to the proposed rules were heard in the local District Court in an eleven- week trial. The decision rendered by the Court upheld the State Engineer's Compact rules but the ruling was appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decision upholding the State Engineer's rules was made in 1983. Therefore, from approximately 1968 to present, the State Engineer has directed that the Compact be administered as a two-river system with each river responsible for its own delivery obligation dictated by Article III. The rules also provided that any curtailment of diversions would come from the junior water rights which would have otherwise been in priority on any given day of administration. During this period of litigation over the rules, Colorado met or exceeded its obligation each year from 1968 through 1984 because of the incentive provided by the U.S. Supreme Court stipulation. [n fact, because of the hydrologic and climatologic vagaries ofthe Upper Rio Grande Basin, coupled with the negative consequences of noncompliance with the stipulation, Colorado was forced to over-deliver to ensure that she met the obligation. This very conservative administration resulted in a reduction in the accrued debit of approximately 430,000 acre. feet in 17 years. The third and current period began in Jnne of 1985, when the Rio Grande Project in Southern New Mexico spilled and eliminated the debt of Colorado and New Mexico. This gave cause for the three states to recommend to the U.S. Supreme Court that the 1966 case be dismissed, which it was on December 9, 1985. Since 1985, Colorado has operated under the Compact as it was written and has met or exceeded ~~t ;-e ". t', _.j,. ..... :lkt& -i:<_ ~ .,",-','<1: .: ..._