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~() 0:' 2 ~"'''': "'!'~ :-:J f*"'" \ <-,. The Radosevich and Rutz report, cited extensively above, provides a concise summary of the tangle of conflicting interest which confound the water situation in the Valley and also explains the Rio Grande Compact about as clearly as that complex document can be explained. Those who are interest'ed in these complicated subjects are referred to that report. Without intending to oversimplify the San Luis Valley's water situation, it is not an uncommon sort of problem. A critical resource (water) is available in limited supply. It is in every individual's interest to secure as much of that valuable resource as he can for himself. Thus, it follows that it is in no individual's interest to restrain his demands. The small contribution they can make will not be noticed or would be con- sumed by their neighbors in any case. As every individual maximizes use of the resource, a critical strain is put on it, often to everyone's loss. ~ After a long series of dry years near the end of the 19th century, farmers along the entire length of the Rio Grande Valley found that the river, which had adequately met their needs for centuries, no longer provided enough water. They looked north to the river's San Luis Valley headwaters. They saw the valley-wide system of irrigation canals which industrious Colorado pioneers had just completed. They complained (not without justice). The complaints of the Republic of Mexico were the first to receive attention, In 1896, the Department of the Interior stopped granting rights-of-way across Federal lands for the construction of reservoirs. In 1906, a treaty providing for the delivery of 60,000 acre-feet per year of Rio Grande water to the Republic of Mexico was signed. A major reason for the 1916 construction of Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico was so that this commitment could be met. The Federal Government's injunction on right-of-way grants was a response to a problem with international ramifications which could not be solved very quickly (if at all) on the local level. The injunction, when combined with threatened lawsuits from downstream water users, hampered the development of reservoirs needed to serve the San Luis Valley. In spite of this, the Valley managed to privately fund and construct five reservoirs between 1910 and 1913 (Rio Grande/Farmer's Union, Santa Haria, Continental, La Jara, and Terrace Reservoirs). During the same general period, eight major irrigation drains were constructed to reclaim some 90,000 acres of land which were being ruined by becoming waterlogged. Similar attempts were made to save the east central Valley but this proved beyond the means of the private sector. Continued diversion of irrigation water into this area turned much of the soil into adobe and caused alkalai to build up on the surface. Agriculture in the Valley has moved continually west since then. Thousands of acres which were once hailed as the best wheat land in Colorado and perhaps the world, became a barren salt waste. Discussions between the States of Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado on the subject of their respective Rio Grande water rights began in the early part of the century. A temporary compact was agreed to in 1928. The formal Compact was ratified by the States' legislatures in 1939.