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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />C 16Bl <br /> <br />mSTORICAL INFORMATION THAT PROVIDES INSIGHT <br />Two relatively old reports are discussed in the sub-sections that follow as they contain <br /> <br /> <br />information on a potential salvage project and use of water from the "Closed Basin", and they <br /> <br /> <br />provide insight into the current problems associated with the Project (USGS, 1910, and NRC, <br /> <br /> <br />1938), In 1910, the U,S, Geological Survey published a comprehensive report on the San Luis <br /> <br /> <br />Valley by C,E, Siebenthal (USGS, 1910), The text and the topographic map of the Valley are <br /> <br /> <br />excellent and the report contains information that contributes to an understanding of the well- <br /> <br /> <br />production problems in the Project. As regional planning documents, the publications of the <br /> <br /> <br />National Resources Committee (NRC) in the late 1930's on the Pecos River and the Upper Rio <br /> <br /> <br />Grande are masterpieces, Part VI" published in February 1938 (NRC, 1938) has three or four <br /> <br /> <br />sections that discuss various aspects of the Closed Basin in Colorado, <br /> <br />Concept of a Closed Basin Water-Salvage Project <br /> <br /> <br />The concept of a Closed-Basin water-salvage project to increase flows in the Rio Grande <br /> <br /> <br />is probably 70 to 80-years old, Interest in a scheme to take water from the lake-bed in the San <br /> <br /> <br />Luis Valley in Colorado (water that was reportedly being lost to evaporation and non-beneficial <br /> <br /> <br />vegetation) probably originated as a means of offsetting the effects of Colorado's use of the <br /> <br /> <br />flows of the Rio Grande (NRC, page 123; Reclamation, May 1996, page 1), The NRC report <br /> <br /> <br />states that the water "added to the river would enter below all irrigation diversions in Colorado <br /> <br /> <br />but would become available for diversions in New Mexico" (NRC, page 123), <br /> <br /> <br />The concept ofa water salvage project in the Closed Basin was a part of the negotiations <br /> <br /> <br />in the drafting of the temporary Rio Grande Compact in 1928 (NRC, page 123), The Rio Grande <br /> <br /> <br />Compact was adopted in 1938 and ratified in 1939 (Reclamation, May 1996, page 1), Colorado's <br /> <br /> <br />deliveries are based on a sliding-scale, posing problems for Colorado in meeting the Compact <br /> <br />7 <br />