Estimated natural streamflow in the Rio San Jose upstream from the pueblos of Acoma and Laguna, New Mexico

The development of surface and ground water, which began about 1870 in the upper Rio San Jose drainage basin, has decreased the flow of the Rio San Jose on the Pueblo of Acoma and the Pueblo of Laguna. The purpose of this study was to estimate the natural streamflow in the Rio San Jose that would have entered the pueblos if no upstream water development had taken place. Estimates of natural flow were based upon streamflow and precipitation records, historical accounts of streamflow, records of irrigated acreage, and empirically-derived estimates of the effects on streamflow of Bluewater Lake, groundwater withdrawals, and irrigation diversions. Natural streamflow in the Rio San Jose at the western boundary of the Pueblo of Acoma is estimated to be between 13,000 and 15,000 acre-feet per year, based on 55 years of recorded and reconstructed streamflow data from water years 1913 to 1972. Natural streamflow at the western boundary of the Pueblo of Laguna is estimated to be between 17 ,000 and 19,000 acre-feet per year for the same period. The error in these estimates of natural streamflow is difficult to assess accurately, but it probably is less than 25 percent. (USGS)