controlled by an extensive system of dams decides where the water in the colorado river system goes.
controlled by an extensive system of dams decides where the water in the colorado river system goes.
who decides where the water in the colorado river system goes?
controlled by an extensive system of dams
the big water projects in the san juan river basin were mostly built by the u.s. bureau of reclamation after the 1950s as participating units of the colorado river storage project, whose aim is to regulate the water supply of the upper colorado river system, control floods and generate power. navajo dam, completed in 1963 after five years of construction, impounds 1.7 million acre feet (2.1 km) of water in navajo lake. the dam serves for flood control, irrigation and long-term water storage, and its operations are paired with two major water projects of the upper san juan river: the san juan-chama project which diverts almost per year from the san juan watershed to the rio grande system serving albuquerque, new mexico, and the navajo indian irrigation project which provides water for of farmland on the navajo nation. these two projects together were designed to put to "beneficial use" the water allocated to new mexico under the 1922 colorado river compact, which divided the waters of the colorado river and its tributaries between the seven u.s. states that make up the colorado river basin.
san juan river (colorado river tributary)
in 1922 seven western states, all of which contained some part of the mighty colorado river or its major tributaries, signed an agreement to regulate the use of the vital waters of the river system. allotments were made and each state was guaranteed a certain amount of water annually. to facilitate this effort, the member states were divided into upper and lower groups, based on geography. recognizing their total dependence on the upper group states, whose mountain snow melts contributed the most water to the river system, the states of the lower group, california, nevada, and arizona, began to build dams, such as the magnificent hoover dam, to create storage reservoirs on their parts of the river system. by the 1950s, the upper states, colorado, utah, new mexico, and wyoming, obligated to send a set amount of water downstream regardless of seasonal fluctuations in water levels, also began to see the wisdom of creating a system of dams and reservoirs. to grant the four states the authority to begin this process, congress passed the colorado river storage act on april 11, 1956. an important legal milestone in the tortuous history of the western water law, the act created the colorado river storage project [crsp], and authorized four main projects, one of which was located on the gunnison river in western colorado, the fifth largest tributary of the colorado river.
curecanti national recreation area