Navajo River Catchment

The Navajo River, located in the southern San Juan Mountains, is a tributary of the San Juan Chama River. The Navajo River catchment is one of three catchments included in the San Juan Chama Project (SJCP, Bureau of Reclamation), which diverts water to the Rio Chama via the Azotea tunnel. This system supplies a firm yield (annual allocation) of 96,200 acre-feet to water users in New Mexico. The Oso Diversion, which diverts Navajo River water, contributes about 70% of the project water. To meet the snow monitoring and water supply forecast needs of the SJCP project, a snow survey research area has been established in the catchment. This research area includes four snow survey sites and two weather stations. This site is also used to assess satellite snow measurements to improve snow water supply forecasting for the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program (Bureau of Reclamation).