Middle Rio Grande Project
|
|
| General statistics | |
|---|---|
| Begun | 1950 |
| Storage dams |
El Vado Dam Cochiti Dam |
| Diversion dams |
Angostura Diversion Dam Isleta Diversion Dam San Acacia Diversion Dam |
| Operations | |
| Authorities | United States Bureau of Reclamation – United States Army Corps of Engineers – Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District |
| Land irrigated | 89,652 acres (36,281 ha) |
The Middle Rio Grande Project manages water in the Albuquerque Basin of New Mexico, United States. It includes major upgrades and extensions to the irrigation facilities built by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and modifications to the channel of the Rio Grande to control sedimentation and flooding. The bulk of the work was done by the United States Bureau of Reclamation and the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s, but construction continued into the 1970s and maintenance is ongoing. The project is complementary to the San Juan-Chama Project, which transfers water from the San Juan River in the Colorado River Basin to the Rio Grande. Although distribution of water from the two projects is handled through separate allotments and contracts, there is some sharing of facilities including the river itself. The ecological impact on the river and the riparian zone was the subject of extended litigation after a group of environmentalists filed Rio Grande Silvery Minnow v. Bureau of Reclamation in 1999.
The Rio Grande valley from Taos Pueblo downstream to Socorro has been continuously settled for longer than any other part of the United States. The Pueblo Indians diverted water from the river for irrigation. Spanish settlers who arrived in the 17th century established a more extensive system of acequias, or shared irrigation canals. More settlers arrived after the region was ceded to the United States in 1848, particularly after the American Civil War (1861-1865). Irrigation peaked in 1880 with 1,248,000 acres (505,000 ha) of cultivated land in the stretch of valley from Cochiti to San Marcial. The extent of cultivation began to decline after this due to water shortage, floods and waterlogging caused by aggradation of the riverbed, a rising water table and poor drainage.
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