Not enough money in the NM legislature to fix the Lower Rio Grande’s drought problems

We know that water shortages on the lower Rio Grande could, depending on how New Mexico tries to solve them, could be a multi-billion dollar problem.

But it looks like the $120 million down payment Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, is seeking won’t be there this year. Here’s Diane Alba Soular in this morning’s Las Cruces Sun-News:

The proposed expenditure of $120 million wouldn’t cover the full cost, said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who has teamed up with Cervantes and state Sen. Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces in pitching water bills. The actual cost could be “perhaps up to $1 billion,” he said.

Cervantes’ proposal can’t be funded this year at the $120 million level, “because we don’t have resources like that,” Smith said. But it could pass with a lesser amount, he said.