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. RIO GRANDE COMPACT ADMINISTRATION . Colorado entered into the Rio Grande Compact with New Mexico and Texas in 1939 whereby Colorado was obligated to deliver certain quantities of water to New Mexico. From 1939 to approximately 1950 the required quantities of water were delivered to New Mexico without the necessity of any special Compact administration by Colorado. From 1950 through 1967 Colorado did not administer the Rio Grande Compact and the required quantities of water were not delivered to New Mexico which resulted in a lawsuit between New Mexico and Texas vs. Colorado. As a part of the settlement of this lawsuit Colorado agreed to deliver the required quantities of water as specified by the Compact on an annual basis. Therefore, in 1968 Colorado began administering the Compact and curtailing water diversions in order to make the required deliveries. During the first six years of Compact administration, Colorado over-delivered 200,000 acre-feet of water to New Mexico. This is water that Rio Grande water users in Colorado were not allowed to divert. It became obvious to Rio Grande water users that changes needed to be made to Compact administration such that over-deliveries could be minimized. Because of the unique situation with Rio Grande Reservoir, the SLVID agreed to let the State Engineer use the storage capacity of Rio Grande Reservoir for Compact admInistration. Rio Grande Reservoir is in a unique situation primarily for two reasons. First, the Rio Grande Reservoir is a pre-Compact reservoir and therefore is not subject to storage limitations. For all prac- t i ca I purposes, Colorado cannot '1 ncrease the amount of water in storage in reservoirs constructed after 1929~because of Compact limi- tations. Second, Rio Grande Reservoir is located on the main stem of the Rio Grande and commands a large physical flow such that water can be stored and released in large quantities. No other reservoir on . -34-