By Susan Kelly
Water Lawyer and Planner
Looking back over "20 Years of Water Planning," the theme of the New Mexico Water Dialogue's 14th annual statewide meeting, participants saw a few bright spots.
The state completed a water plan in 2003, basically a guidance document for the activities and priorities of the agencies responsible for water management in New Mexico. The state has accepted 15 of 16 regional water plans and is working on the five-year update of its own plan. Additionally, inclusion in a regional water plan is now a requirement for certain types of funding for water projects.
But some of the news was troubling, given the importance of water as a basic human need and an essential element of ecosystems on which human well-being depends.
The current budget allocation for water planning is $55,000 per year. Other states, such as Texas, allocate $20 million a year for water planning activities.
State Rep. Andy Nuñez, the Hatch Democrat who chairs the House Agriculture and Water Committee, has introduced HB 85 as a step toward addressing the problem. The bill would appropriate $345,000 to the Interstate Stream Commission to support the regional water planning program. In addition, Sen. John Arthur Smith, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has introduced SB 165, which would appropriate $1.5 million for regional water planning.
As an example of the importance of long-range water planning, look at the Middle Rio Grande. In 2004, the Interstate Stream Commission commissioned a study to assess the probabilities of meeting water deliveries to Texas as required by the Rio Grande Compact in the year 2040.
The area includes three planning regions, encompassing the municipalities and counties in the most heavily populated part of the state: portions of Santa Fe and Los Alamos counties; Sandoval, Bernalillo, Valencia and Socorro counties; and the northern part of Sierra County.
To those in the Middle Rio Grande, the real possibility of defaulting on compact obligations presents a common problem, because its annual allocations apply equally to all three regions and a deficit in one segment affects each of the others. In other words, shortages in meeting the compact don't just hurt Texas— it means we don't have enough water in the river to meet New Mexico's needs.
The study underscored the importance of implementing regional plans. To achieve a balance between renewable supply and demand, a minimum of 71,000 acre-feet per year, and perhaps as much as 110,600 acre-feet per year, of additional supply or reduction in demand is required. This range reflects the uncertainty in predicting how severe drought conditions may be in the future. (The Albuquerque metro area uses roughly the lower amount every year.)
That's part of what water planning does— identify long-range water supply problems. But foresight is not enough, nor is it enough to complete plans and expect them to implement themselves.
Funding is needed to help the regional participants implement the plans, monitor progress and update the plans as new information becomes available or as inevitable changes occur. Funding is needed for work to reconcile inconsistencies among the regional plans and ensure consistency between the regional plans and the State Water Plan. Funding is needed to continue to support the process and participation of many New Mexicans from all walks of life so that in the end, the water plans reflect our values.
It is clear that New Mexico needs to be thoughtful and strategic in making decisions about how to use our water resources. A strong planning program is the backbone for good decision-making.
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