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<br />An Overview of the Basin's Resource-Management Problems <br /> <br />the river bed, with the result that about 40 percent of the population ofthe <br />endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow were killed, according to estimates <br />by the Fish & Wildlife Service. <br /> <br />-~< <br /> <br />The situation is especially uncertain in the New Mexico and Texas portions <br />of the Basin, where water rights have not been adjudicated. Adjudication <br />processes are underway in New Mexico, below Elephant Butte, and in Texas, <br />from the New Mexico border to Ft. Quitman, but final resolution of these <br />processes is years away. They are made more complicated because of <br />uncertainty about who owns the water made available from the BuRec's Rio <br />Grande Project. BuRec claims it owns and has the authority and obligation <br />to manage the water all the way to Ft. Quitman. The irrigation districts <br />that were the local sponsors ofthe project claim that, insofar as their <br />repayment obligations have been met or forgiven, they own the project's <br />facilities and can control the water (Esslinger 1997). Texas asserts that, <br />once the water passes into the state, it has absolute jurisdiction (U.s. <br />Department of the Interior 1995a). Adjudication processes have not yet <br />begun elsewhere in New Mexico's portion of the Basin, although the State <br />Engineer currently is investigating the potential feasibility of alternative <br />approaches for clarifying ownership in these reaches. <br /> <br />~.j <br /> <br />,. <br />,,' <br /> <br />Without adjudication, or some acceptable substitute, water-right-holders, <br />except those with the most senior rights, cannot fully know where their <br />rights stand relative to the rights of others. In such a setting it becomes <br />almost impossible for market forces to playa significant role in allowing and <br />promoting open, fair, and voluntary transfers of water rights from low-value <br />uses toward high-value ones. The problems associated with the lack of <br />certainty about who owns what are pervasive. The State Engineer, for <br />example, has written, " [U]ntil ownership and quantification are <br />accomplished it is difficult to imagine making significant progress on issues <br />of water quality" (Turney 1996). <br /> <br />'.;. <br /> <br />.;., <br /> <br />Similar uncertainty exists throughout the Basin regarding assets other than <br />water rights. Who, for example, owns the riparian resources offederallands <br />in the Basin? Although the administrative agencies, relying on legal <br />precedent, conclude that their title to the resources is indisputable, others <br />clearly dispute this claim (U.S. Department ofthe Interior 1994). Many <br />argue that the owners of ranches that have held grazing permits over the <br />years now have a de facto ownership interest in the resources and argue for <br />making this interest de jure (Nelson 1995). <br /> <br />" ( f) 9 6 <br />1',,1... 7 <br /> <br />87 <br />