ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION RELATED WITH WATER USES AND HYDRAULIC DATA IN THE RIO GRANDE BASIN ON THE MEXICAN SIDE TERM PROJECT OF GIS IN WATER RESOURCES Designed by Carlos Patino- Gomez December 4 th, 2001

Geographic position for the Rio Grande Basin Source: UT digital librarySource: International Boundary and Water Commission

Objective  The scope of this project will be to develop a map sets in GIS over the Rio Grande Basin in the Mexican side, where we will be able to obtain information about water uses, hydraulic infrastructure, drainage, precipitation over the basin, as well as data acquired from hydrometric stations located in the Mexican side, in order to diagnose about the management, preservation, availability of water resource and requirements from users actually.

HYDROLOGY  The river carries little water compared to other rivers of its length.  Most precipitation in the basin falls at either end of the river, as snow near its headwaters or as rain near its mouth.  The Conchos, San Rodrigo, Alamo, and San Juan Rivers are the primary tributaries in Mexico. The Pecos and Devil rivers are the principal tributaries to the river in Texas.

Water use and apportionment  Mexico and the United States have two treaties, signed in 1906 and 1944  Elephant Butte Dam was the first major dam built and completed in 1916 to storage and control the floods  Other two major dams were built, Amistad and Falcon reservoirs, to allow farming along the river  The two governments agreed to jointly construct, operate and maintain, through the IBC, the Rio Grande Rectification project

Principal activities in the Rio Grande basin  On the Texas side of the upper reach of the basin, agricultural land is used primarily for raising cattle and sheep  Major agricultural land uses in the Mexican section of the basin include range livestock, wheat, cotton, and mixed cereals.  In general, the Rio Grande supports a thriving agriculture, as well as provides water for drinking, hydroelectric power, sewage disposal, industry, and recreation for more than 5 million people that live in this basin. Scarcely a drop or its precious water goes unclaimed.

Collection data set (From ESRI)  Digital files from Geo community: and web pages, through the Digital Chart of the World (DCW) FeaturesOriginal Coverage Name Brief description Political/OceanPonet This coverage describes the land, international boundary, sub national administrative boundaries, coastal closure lines, ocean demarcation line, etc. Populated placesPppointIt describes populated places associated with place names within urbanized areas. Rail roadsRrline, Rdline,It describes the single track railroad, multiple track railroad, light –duty railroad, etc. UtilitiesUtlineIt describes the power transmission lines, as well as the telephone or telegraph line too. DrainageDnnet and DnpointThis coverage includes information about the river system, inland water body shoreline and canals. You can find information about small reservoirs and waterhole too. Land CoverLcpolyThis coverage includes information about the cultivated area, salt pan, strip and mines. AeronauticalAepointIt describes where the airports are located Cultural Landmarks Clpoly and CllineThis coverage mentions where you can find cemetery,

The first approach Rio Grande basin in Clark 1866 Geographic coordinates Rio Grande Basin from the Rio Grande Alliance

The river system for the basin The river system in the Rio Grande Basin.

General drainage in the basin Rio Conchos located in the Chihuahua state

Reservoirs in the basin (Source: IBWC)

Centerlines through water bodies

A better approximation for the Rio Grande length

More information about the general drainage system, dams, telecommunications, populated places and other topics using the data set from ESRI can be seen in the appendix A of this project.

INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION (CNA) AND MEXICAN GOVERNMENT

Municipalities in the Rio Grande basin in the Mexican side

DAMS

Hydrometric stations

DISCHARGE POINTS

GROUNDWATER QUALITY STATIONS

CLIMATIC STATIONS

Wastewater treatment plants

Comparative analysis of the dams

SOLUTIONS n Potential conflicts and some solutions are mentioned in this term project, as well as policy options to improve the water management in the Rio Grande basin

Conclusions n From ESRI This data set provide excellent qualitative information about where interesting points could be found, giving us their geographic coordinates and some of them quantitative information like rivers length, for example This data set provide excellent qualitative information about where interesting points could be found, giving us their geographic coordinates and some of them quantitative information like rivers length, for example Unfortunately, in the most of cases the information is not very clear, and the codes could be confused. Unfortunately, in the most of cases the information is not very clear, and the codes could be confused. n From CNA A great dataset that contains a lot of quantitative information about the hydraulic infrastructure and socio economic data can be found in excel and access tables. The historical information from hydrometric and climatic stations is available to create graphs that help us to know the tendency of precipitations in this zone, for example. Unfortunately, some geographic data are not accurate, and some interesting points were found outside of Mexico!!! The available information is not up dated, and the database only includes data information until 1994.

FUTURE WORK  Up date the information gathered from the Mexican government at least until 2000, when the last census of population was achieved.  The National Water Commission must correct and review the current geographic coordinates for the most of points in the Mexican side.  I will relate the information gathered from the Mexican and American agencies, where you can find detailed and historical data for precipitations, water uses, the current water availability, water demands, etc., which allow us to make a balance for a better water management in this zone.  To take regularly geospatial data from ESRI for hydrology and prepare it in the format needed for inclusion in a data model. As a first step, I will create the centerlines through the water bodies located over the most important rivers in the Rio Grande basin.

Acknowledgments  Dr. David R. Maidment  Dr. Daene McKinney  Personnel from the Water National Commission and the Mexican Institute of Water Technology (From Mexico)