On the Rio Grande, “Article VII” means “drought”

Signed in 1938, the Compact divides up the Rio Grande’s water among Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. One of the rules written into the deal, codified in Article VII, is that in really dry years, New Mexico is prohibited from storing water in most of the state’s upstream reservoirs. Farmers can use native flows as they course down the state’s rivers, but we’re in general not allowed to store water during the spring runoff peak to use during the hot months of summer.

The criteria for triggering the rule involves the amount of water stored in Elephant Butte: 400,000 acre feet. And based on the current status of Elephant Butte, it looks like we’ll be “in Article VII” all year this, according to Estevan López, head of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission. “We anticipate we’ll be in Article VII for the remainder of this calendar year,” López told commissioners at a meeting today (Wed. 1/16/2013) in Santa Fe.

There’s some wiggle room here, a few loopholes that will allow modest storage upstream. But managing the river in Article VII, given the current drought forecast, will pose major challenges.

Background on the compact, including the full text, can be found here.