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2000 Calendar Year Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission

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2000 Calendar Year Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Law of the Rio Chama The Utton Transboundary Resources Center 2000 2000 Calendar Year Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission Hal D. Simpson Colorado Thomas C. Turney New Mexico Joe G. Hansen Texas Bob Armstrong Federal Chairman Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/uc_rio_chama Recommended Citation Simpson, Hal D.; Thomas C. Turney; Joe G. Hansen; and Bob Armstrong. "2000 Calendar Year Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission." (2000). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/uc_rio_chama/43 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the The Utton Transboundary Resources Center at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Law of the Rio Chama by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. 2000 Calendar Year Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission COLORADO NEW MEXICO TEXAS Hal D. Simpson Thomas C. Turney Joe G. Hansen FEDERAL CHAIRMAN Bob Armstrong UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF RECLAMATION Upper Colorado Region Albuquerque Area Office March 22, 2001 2000 Calendar Year Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission COLORADO NEW MEXICO TEXAS Hal D. Simpson Thomas C. Turney Joe G. Hansen FEDERAL CHAIRMAN Bob Armstrong UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF RECLAMATION Upper Colorado Region Albuquerque Area Office March 22, 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. ..................................................... 1 SAN LUIS VALLEY PROJECT, COLORADO. ............................... 3 Conejos Division, Platoro Reservoir................................... 3 Platoro Dam Review of Operations and Maintenance Program. 3 Closed Basin Division. ............................................ 3 Closed Basin - Operations and Maintenance. 3 Operations................................................. 3 Maintenance............................................... 6 Water Quality.................................................... 7 Rio Grande Water Conservation District. 7 Stockman’s Water Company Development Proposal. 8 SAN JUAN-CHAMA PROJECT, COLORADO-NEW MEXICO.. 9 San Juan-Chama Diversion Dams.................................... 9 Heron Dam and Reservoir Operations................................. 9 Heron Dam Review of Operations and Maintenance Program. 1 4 Heron Dam Safety of Dams Program. ............................... 1 4 Pojoaque Tributary Unit - Nambe Falls Dam and Reservoir. 1 5 Nambe Falls Dam Review of Operations and Maintenance Program. 1 5 Nambe Falls Dam Safety of Dams Program. 1 8 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Related Reservoir Operations.. 1 8 M&I Water Use National Environmental Policy Act Compliance. 2 0 MIDDLE RIO GRANDE PROJECT, NEW MEXICO. 2 1 El Vado Dam and Reservoir Operations. 2 1 El Vado Dam Review of Operations and Maintenance Program. 2 4 Cooperative Program with the State of New Mexico. 2 4 Temporary Channel into Elephant Butte . .24 River Maintenance............................................... 2 5 Rio Grande River Restoration Projects. 2 6 Endangered Species............................................. 2 6 Rio Grande Silvery Minnow................................... 2 6 Southwestern Willow Flycatcher............................... 2 7 Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Act Collaborative Program. 2 8 Programmatic Water Operations and River Maintenance Assessment.. 2 8 Rio Grande and Low Flow Conveyance Channel Modifications and EIS.. 2 9 RIO GRANDE PROJECT (NEW MEXICO - TEXAS). 3 0 Water Supply Conditions.......................................... 3 0 Project Irrigation and Drainage Systems and Title Transfer. 3 2 Rio Grande Diversion Dam Review of Operations and Maintenance Program. 33 Elephant Butte Reservoir and Powerplant. 3 3 Elephant Butte Dam Review of Operations and Maintenance Program. 3 4 Facility Review for Elephant Butte Dam.. 3 4 Elephant Butte Dam Safety of Dams Program. 3 4 Caballo Dam and Reservoir........................................ 3 4 Caballo Dam Safety of Dams Program............................... 3 5 Data Automation and Instrumentation and Flow Monitoring System. 3 6 Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoirs Resource Management Plan.. 3 6 Diversion Dam Review of Operations and Maintenance Program.. 3 7 Rio Grande Project Adjudications. .................................. 3 7 EL PASO FIELD DIVISION PLANNING STUDIES AND INTERACTION WITH THE NEW MEXICO - TEXAS WATER COMMISSION. 3 9 Aquifer Storage and Recovery...................................... 3 9 Delivery of Surface Water on a Year-Round Basis. 3 9 Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoir Water Quality Assessments. 3 9 El Paso-Las Cruces Regional Sustainable Water Project. 3 9 Rio Grande/Rio Bravo International Basin Assessment.. 4 0 Sedimentation Surveys of Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoirs. 4 3 Caballo Mercury Study............................................ 4 4 OTHER RECLAMATION PROGRAMS. ................................... 4 5 Reclamation’s Water Conservation Field Service Program. 4 5 Water Reclamation and Reuse Projects. 4 5 Upper Rio Grande Water Operations Model. 4 7 Evapotranspiration Tool Box Network. 4 7 Upper Rio Grande Basin Water Operations Review. 4 9 Native American Affairs Program and Drought Relief Programs. 5 0 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 - San Luis Valley Project-Closed Basin Division-Water Accounting. .. 5 Table 2 - Diversions through Azotea Tunnel. 1 1 Table 3 - San Juan-Chama Water Deliveries from Heron Reservoir. 1 2 Table 4 - Monthly Water Storage-SJ-C Project-Heron Reservoir. 1 3 Table 5 - San Juan-Chama Water at Otowi-San Juan-Chama Project. 1 6 Table 6 - Monthly Water Storage SJ-C Project-Nambe Falls Reservoir. 1 7 Table 7 - Reservoir Operation for Abiquiu Dam.. 1 9 Table 8 - Reservoir Operation for El Vado Dam. 2 3 Table 9 - Summary of 1999 Rio Grande coordinated spring runoff forecast.. 3 0 Table 10 - Coordinated spring runoff 2000 Rio Grande forecast.. 3 2 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 - Project map of Reclamation’s Albuquerque Area Office.. .. 2 Figure 2 - Area map of the San Luis Valley-Conejos Division. 4 Figure 3 - Area map of the San Juan-Chama Project. 1 0 Figure 4 - Area map of the Middle Rio Grande Project. 2 2 Figure 5 - Area map of the Rio Grande Project. 3 1 Figure 6 - Area map of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo International Basin Assessment............................................ 4 1 *Cover photo - Elephant Butte Powerplant U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Upper Colorado Region - Albuquerque Area Office 2000 Calendar Year Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission INTRODUCTION The Albuquerque Area Office of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is responsible for operation, maintenance, and oversight of four projects on the mainstem of the Rio Grande and its upper basin tributaries. These projects are: the San Luis Valley Project, the San Juan-Chama Project, the Middle Rio Grande Project, and the Rio Grande Project (Figure 1). The San Luis Valley Project consists of the Conejos and Closed Basin Divisions, The Conejos Division with Platoro Dam and Reservoir, provides water for about 86,000 acres within Conejos Water Conservancy District lands. The Closed Basin Division is a ground water salvage project located near Alamosa, Colorado which pumps water from a shallow, unconfined aquifer that would otherwise be lost through evapotranspiration. The San Juan-Chama Project consists of a system of storage dams, diversion structures, tunnels and channels for transbasin movement of water from the San Juan River Basin to the Rio Grande Basin, as a component of the Colorado River Storage Project. The San Juan-Chama Project provides water for municipal, domestic, industrial, recreation, fish and wildlife purposes, and supplemental water for irrigation. Another component of the project is the Pojoaque Irrigation Unit and Nambe Falls Dam. The Pojoaque Irrigation Unit provides water for about 2,800 acres in the Pojoaque Valley. The Middle Rio Grande Project consists of El Vado Dam and Reservoir and irrigation and drainage facilities in the middle Rio Grande valley. The project also entails river channel maintenance from Velarde, New Mexico, southward to Caballo Reservoir, and the Low Flow Conveyance Channel south of San Acacia, New Mexico. Irrigation water is provided to the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District which supplies water to between approximately 50,000 to 90,000 acres of land in any given year. The Rio Grande Project includes Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoirs and Percha, Leasburg, Mesilla, and Riverside Diversion Dams in the lower Rio Grande valley of southern New Mexico to just south of El Paso, Texas. The project provides an agricultural water supply for approximately 178,000 acres of land within the Elephant Butte Irrigation District in New Mexico, and the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 in Texas. Water is also provided for diversion to Mexico by the International Boundary and Water Commission-United States Section. Drainage waters from the Rio Grande Project lands provide a supplemental supply for about 18,000 acres of land within the Hudspeth County Conservation and Reclamation District No. 1 in Texas. Elephant Butte Dam also provides generation of electrical power for communities and industries in southern New Mexico. Reclamation transferred title to the canal and drainage facilities to the districts in 1996. Figure 1. Project map of Reclamation’s Albuquerque Area Office. 2 2000 Report to the Rio Grande Compact Commission Bureau
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