Laserfiche WebLink
<br />~'-<-., "'-"'-;L" __!--j;.:~'. ~_<,.:<r <br /> <br />1-6 <br /> <br />The schedule presented in the treaty required specific monthly <br />deliverles in the bed of the Rio Grande at the headgate of Acequia <br />Madre near El Paso. The United States had no facility to regulate <br /> <br />the flow of the Rio Grande to aSsure such deliveries; therefore Ele- <br /> <br /> <br />phant B~tte Reservoir was constructed and put into operation in 1915. <br /> <br />During this period half, or more, of the flow of the Rio Grande <br /> <br /> <br />was being diverted into the Closed Basin of the San Luis Valley, an <br /> <br /> <br />area comprising three-eighths of the Valley which had no outlet. <br /> <br /> <br />Over the years the excess water entering the Closed Basin drained <br /> <br /> <br />to the sump area in the easterly part of the Valley and was elim- <br /> <br />inated by evapotranspiration with a resulting concentration of <br /> <br />salts in that area. <br /> <br />By 1916 much of the highly productive'land along the east side <br /> <br /> <br />of the Valley had such accumulations of residual salts that it had <br /> <br /> <br />to be abandoned. This was very likely our introduction to a qual- <br /> <br /> <br />ity related water problem. At this time Walter N. White was commis- <br /> <br /> <br />sioned by the government to make a study, possibly the first, to de- <br /> <br /> <br />termine if the water being wasted in the sump area of the Closed <br /> <br /> <br />Basin could be returned to the Rio Grande. He noted in his report <br /> <br />the large number of vacant tenant houses in this area, mute evidence <br /> <br />of the rapidly deteriorating quality of the formerly productive land <br /> <br />along the Moffat, Hooper, Mosca strip. <br /> <br />c: <br /> <br />t"'i -.., <br />'0... <br />