The San Juan-Chama Diversion Project (SJCDP) is a federal irrigation infrastructure project that transports 96,200 acre-feet of Upper Colorado River basin water from the San Juan River in Southern Colorado to the Chama River in Northern New Mexico through mountain and desert via a network of tunnels, pipes, and canals. While some of this water is used for municipal and agricultural purposes throughout Middle Rio Grande communities, the majority of this water was purchased by the city of Albuquerque for municipal and industrial uses. This paper uses this, and associated projects (Navajo Indian Irrigation Project) to explore the connections and tensions between the law, people and the environment in the development of the American West, and New Mexico in particular.