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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />, I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />IV. RIO GRANDE COMPACT <br /> <br />The Rio Grande Compact apportions the flows of the Rio Grande Basin originating <br /> <br /> <br />above Fort Quitman, Texas, between the States of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. <br /> <br />IV.l HISTORY OF COMPACT DEVELOPMENT <br /> <br />When the United States Supreme Court articulated the doctrine of equitable <br /> <br /> <br />apportionment in the 1906 case of Kansas v. Colorado, the door was opened for the <br /> <br /> <br />assertion of rights to Rio Grande water by New Mexico and Texas. A temporary five <br /> <br /> <br />year compact was signed by the legislatures of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas in <br /> <br /> <br />February 1929. This temporary compact provided that compact commissioners would <br /> <br /> <br />be appointed by the three states and the U.S. Government and that the commission <br /> <br /> <br />was to prepare, by June 1935, a compact which equitably apportioned the waters of <br /> <br /> <br />the Rio Grande. Negotiations between the Compact Commissioners were initiated in <br /> <br /> <br />December 1934. The three states later extended the life of the temporary compact <br /> <br /> <br />to June 1936. <br /> <br />The study of the National Resources Committee, officially known as the Rio Grande <br /> <br /> <br />Joint Investigation, was performed during 1936 and 1937 and was provided to the <br /> <br /> <br />Commissioners in June, 1937. At the time, the investigation (NRC, 1938) was <br /> <br /> <br />believed to have been the most comprehensive and detailed study ever made of water <br /> <br /> <br />and land resources of a river basin in the arid West. The study provided factual <br /> <br /> <br />data to serve as the basis for further negotiations between the three states. The <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado Compact obligations established at the Colorado-New Mexico stateline were <br /> <br /> <br />based on flow relationships found to exist by the Engineer Advisors on the Rio <br /> <br /> <br />Grande mainstem and Conejos River for the years of 1928 through 1937. <br /> <br />The Compact obligations of New Mexico are measured at the Rio Grande Project in <br /> <br /> <br />Southern New Mexico (see Section 11.4.2). New Mexico's Compact obligations are <br /> <br /> <br />based on a relationship between the flow of the Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge (upstream <br /> <br /> <br />of Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico...see Figure 11-2) and the Elephant Butte <br /> <br /> <br />Reservoir effective water supply. <br /> <br />27 <br />