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guidance he gave me throughout my stay at University of New Mexico. I could not have finished this project without his help and enormous amounts of patience, and I cannot thank him enough for that. I would also like to thank Dr. Bruce M. Thomson and Dr. Steve Cabaniss for their help and support and also for being on my committee. My thanks also go to New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute for providing funding for the project. I would especially like to thank my family and friends for their support. i