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I I I I I I Ii , I I I I I I I I I I I , . c 0 1'.; i U u.s. Bureau of Reclamation Upper Colorado Region - Albuquerque Area Office 1997 Calendar Year Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission INTRODUCTION The Albuquerque Area Office of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is responsible for operation, maintenance, and/or oversight of four projects on the main stem of the Rio Grande and its upper basin tributaries. These projects are: the San Luis Valley Project, , the San Juan-Chama Project, the Middle Rio Grande Project, and the Rio Grande Project. The San Luis Valley Project consists of Conejos Division (Platoro Reservoir) and the ground water salvage project known as the Closed Basin Division. The San Juan-Chama Project consists of a system of diversion structures and tunnels for transbasin movement of water from the San Juan River Basin to the Rio Grande Basin, as a component of the Colorado River Storage Project. The San Juan-Chama Project provides water from storage in Heron Reservoir for municipal, domestic, industrial, recreation, and fish and wildlife purposes within the State of New Mexico and also provides supplemental water for irrigation. The Middle Rio Grande Project consists of EI Vado Dam and Reservoir and irrigation and drainage facilities in the middle Rio Grande valley. The project entails river channel maintenance from Velarde, New Mexico, southward to Caballo Reservoir. It also includes the Low Flow Conveyance Channel south of San Acacia, New Mexico. Together, these projects supply water for more than 173,000 acres of irrigated land. The Rio Grande Project includes Elephant Butte and Caballo Dams and Reservoirs and irrigation and drainage facilities in the lower Rio Grande valley of southern New Mexico and just downstream of EI Paso, Texas. The portion of the Rio Grande Project above Percha Diversion Dam is the responsibility of the Elephant Butte Field Division. The EI Paso Field Division is responsible for facilities of the Rio Grande Project from Percha Diversion Dam downstream, and for coordinating water release rates from Caballo Reservoir. Both field divisions are under the jurisdiction of the Albuquerque Area Office. Rio Grande Project responsibilities include operation and maintenance of the two dams and reservoirs. Also, reservoir releases that furnish an irrigation water supply for about 178,000 acres of land designated within the Elephant Butte Irrigation District in New Mexico, and the EI Paso County Water Improvement District No.1 in Texas. The project also releases irrigation waters from Caballo Reservoir for diversion to Mexico by the International Boundary and Water Commission-United States Section. Drainage waters from the Rio Grande Project lands provide a supplemental supply for about 18,000 acres of land within the HUdspeth County Conservation and. Reclamation District No. 1 in Texas. In addition, the Rio Grande Project, at Elephant Butte Dam, was responsible for generation of electrical power for communities and industries in southern New Mexico.