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Water Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin Table 3.1.-Principal functions of water-control facilities in the Upper Rio Grande Basin Completion date/ownership operation Facility Principal function 19161BuRec Elephant Butte Reservoir Irrigation, water-supply storage, recreation, hydroelectric power EI Vado Reservoir Irrigation, water-supply storage, hydroelectric power Flood and sediment control Jemez Canyon Reservoir Abiquiu Reservoir Flood and sediment control, water-supply storage Flood and sediment control Galisteo Reservoir Heron Reservoir Water-supply storage Flood and sediment control, fish and wildlife, recreation Cochiti Reservoir t ~ . 1935/MRGCD ,~ 1954/CoE 1963/CoE " '. :;; 1970/CoE ,> r~ "'I; 1971/BuRec 1975/CoE ~~ ~:; consumption and agriculture fall and the costs rise. There can be no doubt that, for much of the consumptive use in the Basin, the costs now outweigh the benefits. Furthermore, some ofthe consumptive uses, such as depleting the groundwater, increase the probability that future generations will have difficulty meeting their basic needs. The depletion, or mining, of groundwater raises concerns about the sustainability of resource uses in the Basin. Pumping groundwater faster than it is replenished is obviously not sustainable in a physical sense. From the perspective of economics, however, one might conclude that the level of economic well-being derived from the groundwater is sustainable if society were using it as part of an investment program to create technology, knowledge, or other forms of capital that could serve as a replacement when the groundwater is gone. Although some ofthe water undoubtedly has been used in this way, most has not. Instead, water prices markedly beneath the scarcity value of water have stimulated consumptive use of water rather than encouraged entrepreneurial pursuit of conservation technologies and other potential substitutes. Source: ECONorthwest with Crawford et al. (1993a), 84 ~~, r~j ~~ ,~, ".; ~ (~~ ~ "1 ,~" . :~f :~~ 'c' ;:'- ~" -. . ;! ~: ~", r ~- [: r~) \~l" /i .',J~'uU~ .,,; r:>; J:' I~.:;;