“New Mexico is faced with, but has
not faced up to, important water resource limitations.” That
accurate statement comes from a group that, pursuant to House
Memorial 1 (2017), has thought long and hard about
our water situation. (Some of these folks have been thinking about
New Mexico's water management for more than a quarter-century.)
They recommend three bills the
Legislature should adopt this session. All are in committee.
HB174 directs the state engineer and
the Interstate Stream Commission (“ISC”) to prepare to administer
water rights and water use by priority (as required by law), ensure
compliance with the Rio Grande Compact if necessary, and encourage
local water-sharing agreements.
HB186 would amend ISC statutes to
require addressing hydrological realities through science-based
planning. Those realities include unsustainable water use, watershed
health, water-conservation needs, and climate-change impacts. (We
need to consider these realities, and only a science-based approach
makes sense.)
HB187 seeks reform of important
unresolved issues in water law. The bill wouldn't presume to dictate
answers, but would direct the Utton Transboundary Resources Center at
UNM to make recommendations. Utton would evaluate in detail five
aspects of water law, including general stream adjudications of water
rights, protection of supplies, and preparations for supply and
demand changes triggered by higher temperatures and climate change.
New Mexico's water laws need review
and improvements. At least three other western states have
adjudication laws and processes that are more productive and less
adversarial than ours.
Water laws created for an unpopulated
desert to which the government wanted to attract people and
development are as ill-fitting for a highly-populated desert with
competing water needs as the striped suit I wore at my 5th
birthday party would be for me now. We need to face up to the harsh
realities of our Land of Enchantment. We need to make some damned
difficult decisions, which will leave no one completely happy, but at
least start providing for future generations. We need to adjust old
systems to the new world without either giving some people huge
windfalls or simply deleting anyone's legal property rights.
These bills don't do everything we'll
ultimately have to do. But they would make our decision-makers sit
down and face the problems, then get to work. New Mexico leaders
from all political persuasions have kicked this problem down the road
too long.
The bills' proponents note that we
could lose the U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit, drastically cutting our
future water use from and near the Rio Grande; groundwater around the
state is being depleted or rendered unpotable; and the state has
treated water administration as I used to treat car radiators: ignore
'em til they blew and be sad when the engine cracked.
Some might say language in the bill
sounds like an admission against New Mexico's interest in the
lawsuit; but the state's lawyers can easily massage references to a
possible loss, to avoid any apparent concession of any position taken
by Texas. Separately, the state has strong counterclaims: Texas's
unregulated groundwater pumping is a big part of the problem.
Some could argue that the new governor
will appoint a savvy state engineer and topnotch ISC Director; but
given decades of neglect by both parties, it'd be prudent to enact
most of these proposals into law. This should include making the ISC
non-partisan and clarifying its urgent message; and we need clear and
reliable data for decision-makers, as well as funding.
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[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 20 January 2019, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website website and on KRWG's website. A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG and on KTAL-LP, 101.5 FM (or stream at www.lccommunityradio.org)]
[IF YOUR WANT YOUR VOICE HEARD this legislative session, please read this.
1. The folks at Retake our Democracy (Paul Gibson, Roxanne Barber, and others) up in Santa Fe have put some useful resources on their website: Paul will also be reporting regularly during the session on KTAL-LP's "Speak Up, Las Cruces!" (which I host) Wednesdays 8-10 a.m. He'll be calling in as and when that fits his schedule and what's going on in the show, so I can't say just when he'll call.
2. www.nmlegis.gov is a great way to find out what's happening with bills you care about, and which committee(s) are looking at them or will soon be doing so, as well as reading the full and accurate text of bills. This is a nonparisan governmental site.
3. The Secretary of State's Office site offers ways to check which legislators and causes got money from whom, or whom the NRA or Planned Parenthood or New Mexico Foundation for Open Government contributed to.
4. I'm hoping we'll get regular calls from folks who are either legislators or up in Santa Fe observing events closely] Paul Gibson's one, but I've talked to several others. Again, the show is 8-10 a.m. Wednesdays, on 101.5 FM (or streamable at www.lccommunityradio.org]
was excellent. One thing he said was, “My plea is that we need to modernize water policy in New Mexico as best we can and as equitably as we can but in recognition of a changing climate in which surface water supplies are diminished across the state. I think we have no choice but to do that. Please don't ignore what is happening with the supply of water in our state and what is likely to happen in the future.” ]
[The three bills discussed above have all been sent to the House Ag and Water Resources Committee. Our own Micaela Lara Cadena (from Dist. 33) is one of the members of that Committee. Feel free to email or call he with your view on these bills. Other members include Raymundo Lara (Dist. 34) and Chair Derrick J. Lente (Dist. 65, and Vice-Chair Candie G. Sweetser. If you happen to know any of them, and particularly if you live in his or her district, please communicate on this. Thanks!]
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