BOARD00069

• Board Meeting Date: 5/24/1999
• Description: ISF Section - Colorado River Basin Issues - San Juan/Chama Project - ISF By-Pass Issues
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Another possible short-term use of SJ-C Project water would be the unalloted
portion in Heron Reservoir. Nearly every year since 1982, Heron has been filled to its
maximum conservation storage of 401,320 ac-ft. Of that amount, about 75,000 ac-ft
is released for project use downstream, and 12,000 ac-ft is lost to evaporation. A
portion of what remains could be provided to interested water users via year-to-year,
short-term contracts.

Of the remaining three middle valley SJ-C municipal contractors, the Town of
Bernalillo and the Village of Los Lunas have used about 35 percent of their 400 ac-ft
allotments of project water for the purpose of offsetting depletions to the Rio Grande.
The depletions are created by groundwater pumping by contractors or other entities
which lease their water. It is reasonable to assume that all of the middle valley
contractors (including the third, the Town of Belen) will increase their use of project
water as populations increase and pumping increases. Typically, the unused balance
of each year's allotments for the three contractors is either given to the City of
Albuquerque, or MRGCD, or is temporarily stored in EI Vado Reservoir through
agreements with the MRGCD, or in Abiquiu Reservoir through agreements with the
City.

PROJECT BENEFITS

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In addition to providing about 90,000 ac-ft of supplemental water for a variety
of municipal, domestic, industrial, and agricultural constituents, SJ-C Project water
has significantly enhanced surface water resources in the State of New Mexico. The
project has resu~ted in the establishment of three major reservoir pools on the
Rio Chama (Heron; EI Vado, and Abiquiu). Before the project's construction, itwould
not have been possible, as it is now,- to establish significant pools for Cochiti and
Jemez Canyon Reservoirs. In addition, the project has made possible a permanent
recreational pool of 50,000 ac-ft at Elephant Butte Reservoir (Daves 19901.

The importation of SJ-C water has provided in-stream benefits for the
Rio Chama and Rio Grande. Effective and efficient management of deliveries of
project water provides conjunctive benefits for fisheries and recreation. During the
non-irrigation season, deliveries downstream of EI Vado Dam enhance winter brown
trout spawning, and the fishery in general. In addition, movements of large flows on
weekends and lower flows during the week from EI Vado Dam to Abiquiu Reservoir,
for an eight week period each summer, provide exceptional boating and rafting
experiences through the designated 'Wild and Scenic" Rio Chama. Management of
a portion of the City's SJ-C water assures adequate flow for the City's annual "Great
Raft Race". It is quite clear that the San Juan-Chama Project has greatly enhanced
available surface water resources. Operational flexibility will likely be stretched to the
limit as constituents continue to find ways to use the water for its original intent of
offsetting depletions.

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