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Show Federal activity in this basin has been primarily concerned with rehabilitation of privately organized irrigation works with some expansion of irrigated acreage, and development of supplemental water for projects already under irrigation. The three Federal irrigation projects which have been com- pleted in the Rio Grande Basin are the Rio Grande Project in the upper Rio Grande sub-basin, which furnishes reliable water supply for 155,000 acres; the Carlsbad Project in the Pecos sub-basin, which serves 25,000 acres of irrigated land; and the Bal- morhea Project in the Pecos River sub-basin, which provides water for 7,500 acres of land. Projects under Construction and Authorized Two projects are under construction by the Bu- reau of Reclamation. The Fort Sumner Project on the Pecos River in New Mexico is to rehabilitate irrigation works of the Fort Sumner Irrigation Dis- trict. It will provide a permanent diversion dam and rehabilitate the water distribution and related drainage systems for about 4,900 acres of land now irrigated and for an additional 1,600 acres formerly irrigated but now abandoned. Platoro Reservoir, under construction, is one of the features of the authorized San Luis Valley Proj- ect. This reservoir has 60,000 acre-feet of storage capacity and will provide supplemental water for 86,150 acres of presently irrigated land. It will also alleviate flood damages in the Conejos River flood plain. Projects authorized primarily for supplemental irrigation water include the San Luis Valley Project in Colorado, the Middle Rio Grande Project in New Mexico, and the Valley Gravity Project in Texas near the mouth of the river. Principal construction features of the San Luis Valley Project consist of a storage reservoir of 1,000,000 acre-feet capacity at the Wagon Wheel Gap site near Creede, Colo.; a transmountain diversion from the Colorado River Basin to provide approximately 20,000 acre-feet of water to the San Luis Valley; Platoro Reservoir, now under con- struction; and the proposed Mogote Reservoir, now no longer being considered. The Middle Rio Grande Project, as planned by the Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation and other bureaus of the Interior Department, would provide flood control, major drainage, and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. The rehabilita- tion plan calls for improvement of two diversion dams, rehabilitation of 175 miles of irrigation canals, 499 miles of laterals, and 317 miles of exist- ing drains, construction of a large siphon and re- pairs to the El Vado Storage Dam, built by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. The area affected by this project covers approximately 85,000 acres. Original plans for the Valley Gravity Canal and Storage Project, authorized for construction in 1941, were rendered inoperative by the 1944 Mexi- can Water Treaty. This treaty provided for con- struction of three storage dams on the Lower Rio Grande by the International Boundary and Water Commission. The Falcon Dam is to be completed in 1953. The present combined gravity and pump- ing plan would supply supplemental water to 553,000 acres now irrigated and to 130,000 acres of new land. Major features of the plan are related to replacement of some existing pumping plants with gravity diversions, rehabilitation of the water distribution system, and construction of outlet drains. Situation at the End of the Present Program The present program of irrigation rehabilitation contemplates improvement of irrigation facilities for the San Luis Valley in Colorado, a portion of the area between the New Mexico-Colorado State line and Elephant Butte Reservoir, and the Valley Gravity area in Texas. These principal elements will improve the, major irrigation developments in the Rio Grande Basin. The Pecos River sub-basin and tributary areas in New Mexico have numerous smaller projects which need rehabilitation not contemplated under the presently authorized program. Programs for Future Construction The San Juan-Chama Project, in Colorado and New Mexico, would provide for transmountain diversion of some allocated San Juan River water to the Rio Grande Basin, amounting to, at most, 300,000 acre-feet annually. Water transported into the basin would generate hydroelectric power, provide supplemental water for presently irrigated areas and additional water for new lands, and pro- vide domestic and industrial water to cities and towns within the Upper Rio Grande Basin. Other projects consider the rehabilitation of small irrigation projects along tributary streams. 306 |
