Irrigation is among the most important social, cultural, and economic issues related to flow rates down the Chama. It is generally agreed that a flow of about 150 cfs across all diversions is needed for irrigation; this comes out to a flow of 5-10 cfs in each acequia. The river needs a total flow of around 1,200 cfs in order to provide sufficient flow to diversions. If flows are too high, there is a risk of damaging crops and acequia infrastructure. This threshold is considered to be around 1,600 cfs, and the maximum capacity of the river is 1800 cfs. As more water flows down the Rio Chama than ever thanks to the San Juan Chama Project, irrigators are less worried about quantity of water than about timing. As snowmelt occurs earlier in the year and snowpack decreases, the large volumes of water typically seen along the river during peak irrigation season will drop off. Although overall annual flows may not change much, the timing of heavy flow could have a significant negative impact on agriculture. To mitigate this issue, increased local storage options or storage at Abiquiu and El Vado dams can be used to create pulse flows during heavy irrigation months. A final issue essential to the understanding of irrigation and agriculture along the Rio Chama is stability of diversions. One specific crop common along the study reach is alfalfa. About 2.2 acre-feet of water is required to irrigate one acre of alfalfa, and a single diversion serves between 120-600 acres. The discrepancy between the amount of water needed to raise crops and the amount that can be delivered is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in that only 10,000 out of 25,000 irrigable acres in the area are actually irrigated. Flow regimes for irrigation must consider how much discharge diversions can actually handle and future work should include both alternative flow regimes and work to fortify, consolidate, and augment diversion infrastructure.