San Juan River

About the San Juan River

• Below Navajo Dam near Farmington, New Mexico, the river's cold tailwater is promoted by New Mexico State Parks as a world-class fly-fishing destination.12
• The river is also the focus of the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program, a cooperative effort begun in 1992 among New Mexico, Colorado, several tribes and federal agencies to recover the endangered Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker while water development continues in the basin.3

This report follows 247 miles (398 km) of the San Juan River across 3 watershed segments, from Upper San Juan downstream to Lower San Juan-Four Corners. At the lower end of the report the river drains about 18,147 square miles. Named tributaries joining it here include the Chaco River, Animas River, Montezuma Creek, McElmo Creek and Los Pinos River. Reservoirs on this reach: Navajo Reservoir. Largest urban areas near it: Bloomfield, Kirtland and Shiprock. 11 gauges with at least 26 weeks of daily flow cover 1930 to 2026.

From the archive: NHDPlus river network, WBD watersheds, NHD waterbodies, TIGER urban areas and the report's gauges.

From the headwaters down

Each watershed segment in order, with last week's flow rated against the same week in 1991–2020.

1. 1

   Segment 1: Upper San Juan

   985 cfs last week above normal.

   Towns: Bloomfield.

   Water 9.7 °C at San Juan River Near Archuleta, NM. Median conductance 256 µS/cm in the 2020s. Rain over the last 3 months: 248% of normal.

2. 2

   Segment 2: Middle San Juan

   4,369 cfs last week much above normal.

   Towns: Kirtland, Shiprock.

   Water 17.9 °C at San Juan River At Shiprock, NM. Median conductance 458 µS/cm in the 2020s. Rain over the last 3 months: 239% of normal.

3. 3

   Segment 3: Lower San Juan-Four Corners

   9,156 cfs last week much above normal.

   Water 10.5 °C at San Juan River At Four Corners, CO. Median conductance 523 µS/cm in the 2020s.

Culture

• In Farmington, Aztec, Bloomfield and Kirtland, water diverted through community acequias watered the fields that fed generations of families, according to New Mexico Magazine, which quotes a local museum director saying, "It's all about the rivers. Early homesteaders were farming."4
• New Mexico's Office of the State Engineer lists community-operated acequias — including the Hillside, Greenhorn and Highland Park ditches — on the La Plata River, a San Juan tributary within the basin.5

Habitat

• The Colorado pikeminnow, first listed as endangered in 1967 and given full Endangered Species Act protection in 1973, is a large Colorado River Basin minnow that can grow up to 6 feet long and is being reintroduced into the San Juan River.3
• The razorback sucker was listed as endangered and given full Endangered Species Act protection in 1991; this Colorado River Basin sucker can reach 36 inches long and is part of the recovery program's reintroduction efforts across the river system.3
• The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program was established through a 1992 cooperative agreement among Colorado, New Mexico, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the Navajo Nation, which guide recovery actions through Biology and Coordination committees.3

Reservoirs

From the archive: National Inventory of Dams (USACE) and the reservoir registry.

Water users

• The Navajo Indian Irrigation Project, authorized by Congress in June 1962, diverts water at an average annual rate of 508,000 acre-feet from the San Juan River at Navajo Dam Reservoir, about 40 miles upstream of Farmington, to serve roughly 110,000 acres of Navajo tribal land on a plain south of the river.6
• New Mexico's Office of the State Engineer tracks named diversions on the San Juan River itself — including the Citizens/BID, Turley, Hammond and Jewett Valley diversions — along with municipal water intakes for the cities of Farmington and Aztec.5
• The Navajo Nation and the United States signed a water rights settlement for the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico on December 17, 2010, closing decades of litigation and providing a water supply meant to reduce water hauling and support future growth on the reservation.7
• Under the Jicarilla Apache Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 1992, the Nation's settlement contract provides for diverting 33,500 acre-feet per year from Navajo Reservoir or the Navajo River, plus 6,500 acre-feet per year from the San Juan-Chama Project.8

Surface water withdrawn, 2020

In the counties this river crosses (Rio Arriba, San Juan): 556,569 acre-feet. County totals include other streams.

State Engineer, New Mexico Water Use by Categories 2020.

Irrigation districts and acequias

• Hammond Conservancy District (44,212 acres mapped)
• Bloomfield Irrigation District (22,580 acres mapped)

State Engineer's irrigation districts and acequia layers.

Public water systems beside the river

Navajo Dam Domestic Water Consumers Inc, Farmington Water System, West Hammond MDWCA, Blanco MDWCA, Animas Valley Land & Water, Lower Valley Water Users Association

State Engineer's public water systems layer (service areas within 2 km).