Rio Grande dams and diversions are structures that store water along the Rio Grande or its tributaries, or that divert water for use in irrigation. The first diversions were made by the Pueblo Indians over 1,000 years ago. More permanent diversions were built by the Spanish in New Mexico to feed acequias , or shared irrigation canals. [1] The first dam to impound the Rio Grande was the Rio Grande Dam, completed in 1914, followed by the Elephant Butte Dam, completed in 1916.
Several major projects have undertaken construction of dams and diversion in the Rio Grande basin.
The Rio Grande Project built the Elephant Butte Dam and the Caballo Dam. A number of diversion dams were also constructed in this project, including the Leasburg, Percha, Mesilla, American and Riverside diversion dams. [2] The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District built El Vado Dam and the Angostura, Isleta and San Acacia diversion dams. Rehabilitation of these dams, and construction of the Cochiti Dam were undertaken by the Middle Rio Grande Project. [1] The San Juan–Chama Project brings water to the Rio Grande basin from the Colorado River Basin, building the Heron Dam to store some of the water, with an expansion of the El Vado Dam storing some of the remainder. The Closed Basin Project extracts groundwater from the San Luis Valley and delivers it into the Rio Grande.
The Pecos River is the largest tributary of the Rio Grande, and several dams have been built along it. These include the Sumner Dam, Santa Rosa Dam, Brantley Dam, Avalon Dam and Red Bluff Dam.
Structures include: [3]
| Name | Complete | Owner | Capacity | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closed Basin Project | early 1990s | Bureau of Reclamation | 25,000 acre-feet annually | Field of salvage wells in the San Luis Valley, Colorado |
| Rio Grande Dam and Reservoir | 1914 | San Luis Valley Irrigation District | 52,000 acre-feet | Near Creede, Colorado |
| Platoro Dam and Reservoir | 1951 | Bureau of Reclamation | 59,570 acre-feet | Conejos River, Colorado |
| Heron Dam and Reservoir | 1971 | Bureau of Reclamation | 399,980 acre-feet | Willow Creek at confluence with the Rio Chama |
| El Vado Dam and Reservoir | 1935 | Bureau of Reclamation | 195,440 acre-feet | Rio Chama, New Mexico |
| Abiquiu Dam and Reservoir | 1963 | Corps of Engineers | 1,192,800 acre-feet | Rio Chama, New Mexico |
| Cochiti Dam and Cochiti Lake | 1973 | Corps of Engineers | 582,019 acre-feet | Sandoval County, New Mexico |
| Galisteo Dam and Reservoir | 1970 | Corps of Engineers | 88,900 acre-feet | Galisteo Creek, New Mexico near confluence with the Middle Rio Grande |
| Jemez Canyon Dam and Reservoir | 1953 | Corps of Engineers | 102,700 acre-feet | Confluence of Jemez River and the Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico |
| Angostura Diversion Dam | 1934 | MRGCD | 650 cfs diversion | Middle Rio Grande, 5 miles upstream of Bernalillo, New Mexico |
| Isleta Diversion Dam | 1934 | MRGCD | 1,070 cfs diversion | Middle Rio Grande, 13 mi south of Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| San Acacia Diversion Dam | 1934 | MRGCD | 283 cfs diversion | Middle Rio Grande at San Acacia, New Mexico |
| Elephant Butte Dam and Reservoir | 1916 | Bureau of Reclamation | 2,065,010 acre feet | Middle Rio Grande, 3.75 miles east of Truth or Consequences |
| Caballo Dam and Reservoir | 1938 | Bureau of Reclamation | 331,510 acre-feet | Rio Grande, 17 miles downstream from Elephant Butte Dam |
| Percha Diversion Dam | 1918 | Bureau of Reclamation | 350 cu ft/s diversion | 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Caballo Dam |
| Leasburg Diversion Dam | 1907 | Bureau of Reclamation | Rio Grande, 5 miles northwest of Las Cruces, New Mexico | |
| Mesilla Diversion Dam | 1916 | Bureau of Reclamation | 950 cu ft/s diversion | 40 miles (64 km) upstream of El Paso |
| American Diversion Dam | 1938 | International Boundary & Water Commission | 1,200 cu ft/s diversion | 3.5 miles upstream from El Paso, Texas |
| International Diversion Dam | 1918 | International Boundary & Water Commission | 60,000 acre feet / year | 2 miles downstream from American Dam |
| Riverside Diversion Dam | 1928 | International Boundary & Water Commission | 900 cu ft/sec diversion | 14 miles downstream from American Dam |
| Amistad Dam | 1968 | International Boundary & Water Commission | 5,100,000 acre-feet | Confluence of the Rio Grande and the Pecos River, Texas |
| Falcon Dam | 1954 | International Boundary & Water Commission | 3,200,000 acre-feet | Between Starr County, Texas and Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, Tamaulipas |
The Rio Grande in the United States or the Río Bravo in Mexico is one of the principal rivers in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio Grande is 1,896 miles (3,051 km), making it the 4th longest river in North America by main stem. It originates in south-central Colorado, in the United States, and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Rio Grande drainage basin (watershed) has an area of 182,200 square miles (472,000 km2); however, the endorheic basins that are adjacent to and within the greater drainage basin of the Rio Grande increase the total drainage-basin area to 336,000 square miles (870,000 km2).
The Pecos River originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet (3,700 m). The river flows for 926 miles (1,490 km) before reaching the Rio Grande near Del Rio. Its drainage basin encompasses about 44,300 square miles (115,000 km2).
The Gila River is a 649-mile-long (1,044 km) tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of nearly 60,000 square miles (160,000 km2) that lies mainly within the U.S., but also extends into northern Sonora, Mexico.
Elephant Butte Reservoir is a reservoir on the southern part of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Truth or Consequences. The reservoir is the 84th largest man-made lake in the United States and the largest in New Mexico by total surface area and peak volume. It is the only place in New Mexico that one can find pelicans perched on or alongside the lake. There are also temporary US Coast Guard bases stationed at Elephant Butte. It is impounded by Elephant Butte Dam and is part of the largest state park in New Mexico, Elephant Butte Lake State Park.
Elephant Butte Dam or Elephant Butte Dike, originally Engle Dam, is a concrete gravity dam on the Rio Grande near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The dam impounds Elephant Butte Reservoir, which is used mainly for agriculture but also provides for recreation, hydroelectricity, and flood and sediment control. The construction of the dam has reduced the flow of the Rio Grande to a small stream for most of the year, with water being released only during the summer irrigation season or during times of exceptionally heavy snow melt.
Navajo Dam is a dam on the San Juan River, a tributary of the Colorado River, in northwestern New Mexico in the United States. The 402-foot (123 m) high earthen dam is situated in the foothills of the San Juan Mountains about 44 miles (71 km) upstream and east of Farmington, New Mexico. It was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) in the 1960s to provide flood control, irrigation, domestic and industrial water supply, and storage for droughts. A small hydroelectric power plant was added in the 1980s.
The Rio Grande Project is a United States Bureau of Reclamation irrigation, hydroelectricity, flood control, and interbasin water transfer project serving the upper Rio Grande basin in the southwestern United States. The project irrigates 193,000 acres (780 km2) along the river in the states of New Mexico and Texas. Approximately 60 percent of this land is in New Mexico. Some water is also allotted to Mexico to irrigate some 25,000 acres (100 km2) on the south side of the river. The project was authorized in 1905, but its final features were not implemented until the early 1950s.
Caballo Dam is an earthen dam on the Rio Grande about 15 miles (24 km) downstream from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, United States. In conjunction with Elephant Butte Dam, which lies about 25 miles (40 km) upstream, it regulates the discharge of the river in the lower Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. Caballo serves as an afterbay for the Elephant Butte Reservoir, i.e. it stores water released from Elephant Butte for hydroelectricity generation purposes and discharges it in the dry season to provide for irrigation agriculture downstream. The dam is an important part of the Rio Grande Project. A secondary purpose of the dam was to compensate for lost capacity in Elephant Butte Lake due to sedimentation.
El Vado Dam impounds the Rio Chama in the U.S. state of New Mexico, about 105 miles (169 km) north-northwest of New Mexico's largest city, Albuquerque and about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of the capital city of Santa Fe. The earth-filled structure forms El Vado Lake, a storage reservoir for the Middle Rio Grande Project, and has been designated as a New Mexico Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The San Juan–Chama Project is a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation interbasin water transfer project located in the states of New Mexico and Colorado in the United States. The project consists of a series of tunnels and diversions that take water from the drainage basin of the San Juan River – a tributary of the Colorado River – to supplement water resources in the Rio Grande watershed. The project furnishes water for irrigation and municipal water supply to cities along the Rio Grande including Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
San Acacia is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place in Socorro County, New Mexico, United States. It was once a prosperous railway town, but is now largely deserted. There is a nearby diversion dam on the Rio Grande, important in irrigation.
The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) was formed in 1925 to manage the irrigation systems and control floods in the Albuquerque Basin. It is responsible for the stretch of river from the Cochiti Dam in Sandoval County in the north, through Bernalillo County, Valencia County and Socorro County to the Elephant Butte Reservoir in the south. It manages the Angostura, Isleta and San Acacia diversion dams, which feed an extensive network of irrigation canals and ditches.
The Angostura Diversion Dam is a diversion dam on the Rio Grande in Sandoval County. New Mexico, near to Algodones and to the north of Bernalillo. The dam diverts water into the main irrigation canal serving the Albuquerque Division.
The San Acacia Diversion Dam is a structure built in 1934 for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) near to San Acacia, New Mexico, United States. It diverts water from the Rio Grande into irrigation canals.
The Isleta Diversion Dam is a structure on the Rio Grande in the Albuquerque Basin near Isleta Village Proper, New Mexico that diverts water from the river into irrigation canals. There have been some negative environmental impacts due to changes in the river flow that affect the native fish and drying of the riverside land.
Rio Grande Silvery Minnow v. Bureau of Reclamation, called Rio Grande Silvery Minnow v. Keys in its earlier phases, was a case launched in 1999 by a group of environmentalists against the United States Bureau of Reclamation and the United States Army Corps of Engineers alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The case resulted in significant changes to water and river management in the Middle Rio Grande Basin of New Mexico in an effort to reverse the damage that had been done to the habitat of two endangered species.
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.
Heron Dam is a storage dam Rio Arriba County, in northern New Mexico in the southwestern United States, just north of the El Vado Dam. It is owned and operated by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. The dam is about 9 miles west of the town of Tierra Amarilla.
The Riverside Diversion Dam was a diversion dam on the Rio Grande to the southeast of El Paso, Texas. The dam was owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, and diverted water into the Riverside Canal for use in irrigation in the El Paso Valley. The dam became obsolete with completion of a cement-lined canal carrying water from the upstream American Diversion Dam to the head of the canal. It was partially removed in 2003.
The Mesilla Diversion Dam is located in the Rio Grande about 40 miles (64 km) upstream of El Paso, Texas, about 6 miles (9.7 km) to the south of Las Cruces, New Mexico. It diverts water from the river for irrigation in the lower Mesilla Valley. The dam is owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, which built it, and is operated by the Elephant Butte Irrigation District.
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