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<br />, <br /> <br />SECTION 2 - PROJECT SETTING <br /> <br />fIDrn~~rr <br /> <br />General Description <br /> <br />The Rio Grande is an interstate and international strearn. It rises in the Colorado <br />mountains forming the San Luis Valley, flows southward more than 400 miles through the San <br />Luis Valley in Colorado and across New Mexico. For a short segment of its length, it <br />approximates the boundary between New Mexico and Texas.' J After leaving this short <br />segment, it forms the boundary between Texas and the Republic of Mexico and flows another <br />1,250 miles before discharging into the Gulf of Mexico. Overall, the Rio Grande drains an area <br />of more than 180,000 square miles. <br /> <br />The Rio Grande basin can be divided logically into an upper basin and a lower basin <br />with Fort Quitman, Texas being the demarcation. The upper basin involves a drainage of about <br />32,000 square miles. Elevations in the upper basin range from over 13,000 feet in the <br />headwaters in Colorado and New Mexico to 3,450 feet at Fort Quitman. Nearly all the water <br />produced in the upper basin is consumed through irrigation, municipal, and other uses. While <br />only about one-fourth of the upper basin is in Colorado, this portion of the basin contributed <br />slightly more that one-half of the flow during 1890-1935 (NRC, 1938, p. 29). Below Fort <br />Quitman, tributaries entering the river from Mexico contribute most of the river flow. Figure 2-1 <br />is a large-scale location map that shows features in the upper basin that are important in this <br />study and not located in better detail in later maps. <br /> <br />The Rio Grande Project is situated in the portion of upper basin beginning at San <br />Marcial, New Mexico and extending downstream to Fort Quitman, involving portions of Sierra <br />and Dona Ana Counties in Mexico and EI Paso and Hudspeth Counties in Texas. Originally, the <br />Rio Grande in this portion of the basin was about 250 miles long and flowed through the Engle, <br /> <br />1) Evidently, the boundary between New Mexico and Texas in this area is located over a former channel <br />of the Rio Grande. Since the boundary was fixed, the river has moved mostly to the east, leaving <br />portions of Texas west of the river in this area. See Plate 2-3. <br /> <br />2-1 <br /> <br />(, - . C. <." <br />,-,'.. ~- <br />