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<br />'~~""~-"It)-------+-- <br />ULlt;.. . <br /> <br />CHAPTER II. RIO GRANDE COMPACT <br /> <br />The surface waters of the Rio Grande are apportioned !Hnong the <br />States of Colorado, New ~lexico, and Texas in accordance with the <br />Rio Grande compact. The compact was ratified by the three State <br />legislatures in February and ~farch 1939, consented to by Congress, <br />and approved by tbe President on May 31, 1939. The terms of the <br />compact protect the uses oC water in the ,"arious sections of the Rio <br />Grande Basin by setting up schedules of delivery of water. Colorado's <br />obligation to deliver water at the Colorado-New ~fe.'{ico State line, <br />as set forth in the compact, is based upon the relationship between <br />inflow and outflow of the San Luis Valley for the years 1928 to 1937, <br />inclusive. The terms of the Rio Grande compact permit construction <br />llnd operation of additional reservoirs above Elephant Butte Reservoir <br />t.o regulate the water and to capture and put to beneficial use \vater <br />which other".;se would spill from compact project. storage (Elephant <br />Butte and Caballo Reservoirs). The compact also recognizes the <br />potentiality of salvage of Closed Basin waters for beneficial use and <br />provides R.'l follows: <br />lI.Article III-In event any works are constructed after 1937 for the <br />purpose of delivering water int-O the Rio Grande from the Closed <br />Basm, Colorado shall not be credited with the amount of such water <br />delivered, unless the proportion of sodium ions shall be less than 45 <br />percent of the total positive ions in that \llater when the t.otal dissolved <br />solids in such water exceeds 350 parts per millioIl." <br />The I'Rules and Regulations for .Administration of the Rio Grande <br />Compact" adopted by the Rio Grande Compact Commission on <br />December 19, 1939, contains the following prOVIsion: <br />'IQuality of 'Vater-in the event that deliven' of water is made <br />from the Closed Basin into the Rio Grande, sufficient samples of such <br />water shall be analyzed to ascertain \...hether the quality thereof is <br />within the limits establisbed by the compact." <br /> <br />(:-..'1) <br />