A discussion with Nat Chakeres, OSE General Counsel, and Tanya Trujillo, Deputy State Engineer, discussing how the OSE is managing Rio Grande Compact compliance in the Middle Rio Grande and below Elephant Butte Dam in the Lower Rio Grande. Learn about incentives and motivators that the OSE can use to ensure that New Mexico complies with its legal water sharing mandates.
A winter block release of 26,000 acre-feet of stored Rio Chama water was intended to reduce New Mexico’s Rio Grande Compact underdelivery. Hydrographs show that much of the water never reached Elephant Butte Reservoir. The Middle Rio Grande absorbed it.