New storage agreement may help keep the Rio Grande flowing in Albuquerque next summer

By Hannah Grover
​NM Political Report

A new agreement allows the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District to store water in Abiquiu Reservoir for up to 10 years as work continues on El Vado Dam.

One reason that the Rio Grande in the Albuquerque area has experienced drying trends over the past couple of years is that the MRGCD has not been able to store water in El Vado Reservoir that could then be released during the summer.

In 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation lowered the water levels in El Vado to allow crews to perform necessary safety upgrades and improvements. That construction came to a halt in March and assessments of the structure revealed that steel faceplate and underlying supports in the dam are in much worse condition than previously believed. That meant the existing contract for the construction had to be terminated and the Bureau of Reclamation needed to perform a new evaluation. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, it will be at least three years before work can resume.

That left the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District in a bind.

The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority has the rights to store water in Abiquiu Reservoir and, on Monday, the Bureau of Reclamation announced that an agreement was reached that allows the MRGCD and a coalition of six Rio Grande Pueblos to store up to 100,000 acre-feet of water.

“The agreement represents a win for all users,” Eric C. Olivas, chair of the ABCWUA’s governing board, said in a press release. “It helps the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and our customers by requiring strategic releases of stored Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District water to maintain flows at the central stream gage above 200 cubic feet per second, allowing us to continue surface water diversions instead of tapping groundwater reserves.”

The agreement is only a temporary solution, though, and the Bureau of Reclamation must still move forward with repairing El Vado Dam. In the meantime, storing water in Abiquiu Reservoir provides the MRGCD with additional flexibility in how it manages water.

The Bureau of Reclamation plans to do what is known as a first fill test over the coming months. This will be done to evaluate how El Vado Dam performs when water is added to the reservoir. The Bureau of Reclamation will incrementally raise the water in the reservoir and will assess the dam’s stability and performance at various water depths. 

Depending on the results of the first fill test, the MRGCD may be able to store some amount of water in El Vado during the safety upgrades. The test will also help the Bureau of Reclamation develop and implement a long-term solution for storing Rio Grande water.

The water used for the test comes from the ABCWUA, the city of Santa Fe and the MRGCD.
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“Thanks to the flexibility of our partners, we can continue our evaluation and repairs of El Vado Dam while ensuring the safe storage of water for Middle Rio Grande irrigators, water users, and for Rio Grande Compact purposes. These strong, cooperative partnerships help us use every drop of water for multiple benefits,” Reclamation Albuquerque Area Manager Jennifer Faler said in a press release.