WSP08125

• File Number: 8583
• Description: Rio Grande Decision Support System
• State: CO
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Water Division: 3
• Date: 3/1/1998
• Author: Colorado Water Congr
• Title: Interdisciplinary Team Develops Rio Grande Drought Assessment Process
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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The project director is Tom Bahr, Director, New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute. Investigators for the
project are:

From New Mexico State University: Frank Ward, Principal Investigator, Department of Agricultural Economics
and Agricultural Business; Tom McGuckin, Co-Investigator, Department of Agricultural Economics and
Agricultural Business; J. Philip King, Co-Investigator, Department of Agricultural Engineering.

From Colorado State University: Robert Young, Co-Investigator and Colorado Leader, Department of Agricultural
and Resource Economics; Marshall Frasier, Co-Investigator, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics;
GrQl;1I Cardon, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. '

From Texas A&M University: Ronald Lacewell. Co-Investigator, DeparTment of Agricultural Economics; John
Ellis. Co-Investigator. Department of Agricultural Economics; andflaghavan Srinivasan, Co-Investigator, Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station.

Consultants wOtking on the project are Dr. James Booker, a Colorado State University graduate who recently
completed a similar model for the Colorado River Basin, and Water Law expert Dr, Charles DuMars, University of
New Mexico.

Status of the Rio Grande Drought Study Model
February, 1998
by Tom Lynch and Frank Ward
New Mexico State University

'General Structure
The model is structured in nodes, where each node is a point at which any of several management decisions may be made
(Figure I). Dedsions include: surface and/or ground water withdrawals, use for agricultural or municipal uses, returns to
surface and/or ground water, and reinjection into the aquifer at agricultural or municipal nodes: storage or release for
hydropower and downstream use at reservoir nodes; and measurement for treaty purposes at gauge nodes.

Currently, the model is a rough hydrologic model of the upper Rio Grande from the headwaters to Fort Quitrnan Texas (Figure
2). It has been developed by Dr. Phil King at New Mexico State University in cooperation with Dr. Raghavan Srinivasan and
Dr. Seiichi Miyamoto at Texas A&M.

Management nodes include:

. Del Notte, CO. which includes the irrigation districts on the Rio Grande;
. Mogote. CO. which includes the irrigation district on the Conejos;
. Lobatos Gauge, CO, which includes the Closed Basin Project inflows;
. Embudo Gauge, NM;
. Heron Reservoir;
. El Vado Reservoir;
. Abiquiu Reservoir;
. Otowi Gauge;
. Cochiti Reservoir;
. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, NM;
. Albuquerque, NM;
. Elephant Butte Reservoir;
. Caballo Reservoir;
. Elephant Butte Irrigation District;
. Mexican Canal; and
. El Paso County Water Improvement District #I.TX.

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