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of approximately 133,000 acres in the Rincon and Mesilla Valleys in Sierra and Dona Ana Counties, New Mexico. Of this total acreage, the USBR considers 102,000 acres to be irrigable (USSR, 1995, p. 11-3) and EBID considers 90,640 acres to be "water right" lands (Esslinger, 1995). Based on water right acreage, approximately 57 percent of the Project water supply is allotted to EBID. EBID can levy and collect ad valorem taxes to meet the district's fiscal obligations. It has a nine-member board of directors and a manager to conduct its affairs and to disperse water within its boundaries. The EI Paso County Water Improvement District NO.1 was formed in 1917 to succeed the EI Paso Water Users Association. It comprises 76,000 irrigable acres (USBR, 1995, p. 11- 11) beginning at the New Mexico-Texas stateline on the north and extending downstream a distance of about 60 miles in EI Paso County. A total of 67,000 acres are presently authorized to receive water from the Rio Grande Project. About 12,000 acres of the EPCWlD lands are located in the lower portion of the Mesilla Valley. The remaining lands are in the EI Paso Valley. EPCWID has a five-member board and a manager who conduct the affairs of the District and disperse the water to the District users. The Hudspeth County Conservancy and Reclamation District was organized in 1924 to consolidate several then-existing ditches into one system. HCCRD receives "drainage and waste waters" under a Warren Act Contract with the USSR. The HCCRD comprises 18,000 acres in the lower portion of the EI Paso Valley extending generally from the EI Paso-Hudspeth County boundary downstream to Fort Quitman, a distance of about 30 miles. Originally, all the EBID diversion, conveyance and drainage facilities were owned, operated and maintained by the USBR. In 1992, however, Public Law 102-575 Title XXXIII authorized transfer of title to EBID and EPCWID of "... such easements, ditches, laterals, canals, drains, and other rights-of-way which the United States acquired on behalf of the Project..." The transfer of these assets was completed in Storage and diversion structures were not authorized by transfer. Consequently, diversions are made and measured at the river headings by the USBR, and deliveries to the water users are the responsibility of EBID and EPCWlD. 3-4 r .- oJ'. '! .. "" 1- .