The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) was formed in 1925 to manage the irrigation systems and control floods in the Albuquerque Basin.

It manages the Angostura, Isleta and San Acacia diversion dams, which feed an extensive network of irrigation canals and ditches.

[4] After this there was a steady decline in irrigation due to "droughts, sedimentation, aggradation of the main channel, salinization, seepage and waterlogging".

By the time the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District was founded in 1923, more than 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) of farmland had become swamps or alkaline and salt grass fields.

[5] The acequia running through the city of Albuquerque, parallel to the river, had become an unsanitary drainage ditch, serving as a common sewer.

[6] A first attempt to create the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District was made in 1923, but failed due to legal problems.

The goals of the Conservancy were to protect the villages in the valley from floods, drain the swamps and provide water for irrigating the farms.

[7] By 1935 the Conservancy had built almost 200 miles (320 km) of levees along the river banks, and a system of jetties and checks to protect against floods.

It was unable to raise enough money for maintenance, let alone capital projects, and much of the land that could be irrigated was not because the farmers could not afford the water assessment fees.

[5] The earth levees were not able to contain a major flood in 1941, which inundated communities throughout the river valley, including some of downtown Albuquerque.

[10] During the 1950s a series of projects was undertaken by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers under the Rio Grande Comprehensive Plan.

However, in the 1990s high concentrations of un-ionized ammonia were found, caused by impaired water use in the section of the Rio Grande between the Jemez River and the Isleta Dam.

In response, the Isleta Pueblo and consultants have been developing a plan to reduce the risk of fire, prioritize fire fighting to focus on areas dominated by native vegetation, replant cottonwood and willows along the banks, restore riparian grasslands and search for ways to better manage the dam.

[2] With growing urbanization, the role of the Conservancy has gradually shifted from supporting agriculture to preserving the riverside ecology and helping to recharge the Albuquerque aquifer.

The changing ecology of the site is being carefully monitored, and initial results have been very encouraging, apparently restoring native plants and making the water flow more variable in response to discharges.

The report suggested that if eight Gradient Restoration Facilities were installed in the downstream reach, that should be enough to slow the water, allowing sediment to settle and making fish passage easier.

Again, it suggested emplacement of Gradient Restoration Facilities to control erosion as sediment above and below the dam returned to normal levels.