Evaluation of the Pecos River Carlsbad Settlement agreement using the Pecos River decision support system
Date
2006-10
Authors
Elhassan, Ali, author
Carron, John, author
McCord, Jim, author
Barroll, Peggy, author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
The Pecos River Decision Support System (PRDSS) is a complex set of hydrologic models that simulates the hydrology and operations of key surface water and groundwater systems associated with the Pecos River. The PRDSS has been used in the development and evaluation of a complex water rights settlement agreement that is intended to help New Mexico achieve long-term compliance with the Pecos River Compact. The agreement anticipates that the State of New Mexico will purchase water rights, retire irrigated farmland, and operate wells to augment the flows of the Pecos River. The water rights acquired will be used to make deliveries to the state line as required by the Compact and to ensure certain water supplies to the Carlsbad Irrigation District. The PRDSS has been used extensively for evaluating the key terms of the Settlement Agreement using input data based on the historical hydrology records from 1967 to 1996 including river gages, pumping records and meteorological data. Two model scenarios were developed for this evaluation: the baseline scenario and the Settlement scenario that simulates the operation of the system under the Settlement Agreement. Several key resource indicators were identified to evaluate the results of the simulations. These include Pecos River compact obligations and departures, CID surface water allotment and supplemental well pumping and augmentation pumping in the Roswell basin. The model results indicate that implementation of the Settlement agreement will: 1. Reduce the possibility of New Mexico defaulting on its Pecos River Compact obligations, and most likely result in credit over the long-term; 2. Increase the total annual surface water supply available to CID irrigators; and minimize the chances of a priority call by CID. The PRDSS has proven a valuable tool for evaluating various actual or proposed management policies in the Pecos River basin.
Description
Presented at Ground water and surface water under stress: competition, interaction, solutions: a USCID water management conference on October 25-28, 2006 in Boise, Idaho.