North-South NM Water War Heating Up

Gary Esslinger of the Elephant Butte Irrigation District has turned up the heat in the increasingly tense battle between the southern New Mexico ag irrigation district and the state officials over distribution of Elephant Butte Dam water to farmers down south. State officials say a deal Esslinger and others down south agreed to ends up shorting New Mexico’s share of Rio Grande water. Esslinger argues otherwise. From a piece published Saturday in El Defensor Chieftain:

It has long been said colloquially that “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over.” Our farm families and the thousands of businesses and consumers that benefit from agriculture in these green valleys will fight for their water and associated rights, and are perfectly capable of protecting themselves. But they want a fair fight where one of our own state officials is not using our water to irrigate his personal political career.