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<br />r~ <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />oa0419 <br />. . <br /> <br />'. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Ita decreed priority date of 1852 makes it the earliest decreed water <br /> <br />right in the State of Colorado. <br /> <br />By 1900 a stable agricultural econo~y had developed in the <br /> <br />valley which continues to this day. The amount of land under culti- <br /> <br />vation has been almost stable for the past thirty years. However, <br /> <br />changing crop patterns and more intensive farming methods in Colorado, <br /> <br />New Mexico and Texas, together with population increases, have increased <br /> <br />the demands on the Rio Grande River. <br /> <br />In 1906 the United States entered into a treaty with the <br /> <br />Republic of Mexico by which the United States granted 60,000 acre- <br /> <br />feet of water annually to Mexico from the Rio Grande. The stated <br /> <br />purpose of the treaty was to ~emove causes of international contro- <br /> <br />versy on the waters of the Rio Grande River arising above Fort Quitman, <br /> <br />Texas. By a later treaty of 1944, the United States conceded addition- <br /> <br />al rights from the Rio Grande to the Republic of Mexico from that <br /> <br />portion of the river below Fort Quitman. <br /> <br />While the Treaty of 1906 became a national obligation, the <br /> <br />burden of delivery fell upon the States of Colorado, New Mexico and <br /> <br />Texas, and particularly upon the State of Colorado. Delivery to <br /> <br />Mexico is made from the river above El Paso. at which point most of <br /> <br />the river flow originates from the State of Colorado. <br /> <br />In 1929 a temporary compact governing the use of Rio Grande <br /> <br />waters was concluded between the States of Colorado, New Mexico and <br /> <br />-2- <br />