Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District marks 100 years of service; prepares for difficult irrigation season

The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District is in the midst of the 2025 irrigation season, marking a key milestone: 100 years since the district’s founding in 1925.

Managing water in the middle valley has come with challenges and this year will be no different, with scarce spring runoff and rising irrigation demand.

For a century, the MRGCD has been at the center of water management in New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande Valley, delivering irrigation water, managing drainage, and providing river flood control for thousands of residents, farms, and pueblos. Today, the district serves about 11,000 irrigators, six pueblos and more than 100,000 parcels of land between Cochiti and Socorro.

“This year marks a major point in our history,” said MRGCD Board Chairman John Kelly, “As we begin the 2025 irrigation season, we’re reflecting on 100 years of service to the valley and recommitting ourselves to the ongoing responsibility of water stewardship in central New Mexico.”

A century of transformation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

When Spanish explorer Vásquez de Coronado reached the valley in 1540, pueblo communities had already been irrigating extensively for hundreds of years. Yet, by the early 20th century, upstream deforestation, increased sedimentation and inadequate infrastructure had led to frequent and devastating flooding.

The MRGCD was created in response to these urgent challenges, with three initial mandates: protect against flooding, drain swamplands and deliver irrigation water to farmlands. Its early achievements included:

• 1920-30s: Construction of major diversion dams at Cochiti, Angostura, Isleta, and San Acacia, along with the storage reservoir at El Vado. The district also built nearly 200 miles of levees and jetties and expanded the region’s canal systems to support agriculture and control flooding.

• 1940-50s: Following severe flooding and financial instability, the federal government intervened under the Flood Control Acts of 1948 and 1950. More than $75 million was invested to rehabilitate and modernize MRGCD’s infrastructure, including the creation of Cochiti Reservoir.

• 1970s-present: Continued coordination with the Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers, expansion of environmental and recreational efforts, and increasing focus on sustainability, habitat restoration, and adaptation to climate variability.

Today, the MRGCD manages more than 1,200 miles of irrigation and drainage canals and owns 30,000 acres of bosque lands. These lands support both environmental and public uses, including parks and preserves such as the Rio Grande Nature Center, Tingley Beach, San Gabriel Park, and the Corrales and Los Lunas bosque areas. More than 400 miles of MRGCD waterways are classified for recreational use, serving as bike paths, horse trails, fishing spots and open space within both urban and rural communities.

“Agricultural activity in the valley continues to generate tens of millions of dollars each year,” said MRGCD Chief Engineer/CEO Jason Casuga. “But the benefits of the system go beyond farming. This greenbelt supports biodiversity, provides public recreation, and helps maintain the unique rural-urban balance that defines life in central New Mexico.”

Throughout 2025, the MRGCD will offer public engagement opportunities, educational programming and support events in the communities it serves. Visit the MRGCD’s website, mrgcd.com, to learn more.