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<br />SAN JUAN-CHAMA PROJECT
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<br />Project Authorization and Allocations
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<br />The San Juan-Chama (SJ-C) Project was authorized by Congress in 1962
<br />through Public Law (P.L.) 87-483, which amended the Colorado River Storage Act of
<br />1956 (P.L. 84-485) to allow diversion of Colorado River Basin water into the Rio
<br />Grande Basin of New Mexico. The original planning projections for the SJ-C Project
<br />contemplated an ultimate diversion of 235,000 acre-feet (ac-ft) per year, with an initial
<br />phase development of 110,000 ac-ft. The initial phase is all that was authorized (by
<br />P.L. 87-483) and subsequently constructed. The project takes water from the Navajo,
<br />Little Navajo, and Blanco Rivers which are upper tributaries of the San Juan River,
<br />itself a tributary of the Colorado River, for use in the Rio Grande Basin, New Mexico.
<br />The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission is responsible for prioritizing which
<br />entities can contract for the water and what their allocation will be.
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<br />The additional water introduced into the Rio Grande Basin is used for the
<br />following municipal, domestic, and industrial purposes: City of Albuquerque, 48,200
<br />ac-ft; City and County of Santa Fe and Public Service Company of New Mexico,
<br />5,605 ac-ft; Department of Energy, 1,200 ac-ft; Village of Los Lunas, 400 ac-ft;
<br />Twining Water and Sanitation District, 15 ac-ft; City of Espanola, 1,000 ac-ft;
<br />Village of Taos, 400 ac-ft; Town of Red River, 60 ac-ft; Town of Bernalillo, 400
<br />ac-ft; Town of Belen, 500 ac-ft; and Jicarilla Apaches, 6,500 ac-ft;. Supplemental
<br />water is provided for irrigation of 89.711 acres (20,900 ac-ft) within the Middle
<br />Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD); and 2,768 acres (1,030 ac-ft) within the
<br />Pojoaque Valley Irrigation District. An additional annual allocation of up t05,OOOac-ft'
<br />is available for the Corps of Engineers' Cochiti Reservoir to assure a minimum pool of
<br />1,200 surface acres for fish and wildlife, and recreation purposes. There is an
<br />allocated, but as yet uncontracted, availability of 4,990 ac-ft based on the current
<br />estimated SJ-C Project yield of 96,200 ac-ft per year.
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<br />Early History
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<br />Through prehistoric Indian activity at Sandia Cave northeast of Albuquerque,
<br />pueblo communities established before 600 A.D., Spanish settlement in 1598, and the
<br />homestead development in the late 1840's, the Rio Grande Valley has accommodated
<br />and nurtured man. The waters provided by the SJ-C Project flow to the descendants
<br />of these cultures and is helping to continue the varied lifestyles represented.
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<br />Along the upper San Juan River drainage, the project's water source, a similar
<br />settlement pattern, developed. A desert culture base underlay the Anasazi
<br />development, but climatic conditions and the influx of the ancestors of the modern
<br />Navajo and Ute Indians limited pueblo development. Spanish exploration in the area
<br />is known to have occurred as early as the search for gold in 1765, with settlement
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