Over the years, the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 and Elephant Butte Irrigation District have never signed an operating agreement, plan, or criteria, but have acquiesced and cooperated with Reclamation's procedures on a year to year basis. This latest revision of the procedures attempts to accommodate changes proposed and negotiated among the parties. A particular concern among the parties is that during periods of drought, EBID has the ability to supplement reduced Project deliveries by the use of wells. The EPCWID does not have a similar opportunity because of the poor quality of the ground water within the EPCWID boundaries (Figure 1). The proposed ability to carry-over diversion allocation will help the Districts to bank or reserve water for use during droughts.

Reclamation proposes adjustments to the Operating Procedures which will hopefully conclude with an operating agreement among all the parties.  Implementation of the Operating Procedures for the next five years.