Trans-basin transfers like the ones on Jicarita Peak aren’t unheard of. The San Juan-Chama Project that moves water from the Colorado River basin to the Rio Grande, and on to Santa Fe and Albuquerque is one of just a few examples of larger scale projects currently active in the United States. But the one on Jicarita Peak, where water is being diverted from the Rio Grande over a mountain ridgeline eastward to the Rio Canadian watershed, is quite unique, with undercurrents of Indian lore, Spanish land grants and even ripples of the old Santa Fe Ring. Robert Templeton is former chair of the Embudo Valley Regional Acequia Association and a parciante, or member, of one of the ditches that flows to his field in Dixon where he grows corn and vegetables. He has been studying the diversions for several years and has shared some of what he’s learned with Picuris Pueblo. “In the history of the diversions, more than a half million acre-feet of water has gone over the divide,” he said, adding that’s a conservative estimate. “If you take that and divide it by the annual flow at the Picuris gauge, the amount is equal to 22 years of the annual flow.” To view the full article visit the Albuquerque Journal.
