SENATE MEMORIAL 90

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

John Arthur Smith

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE STATE ENGINEER TO CREATE A LIST OF MAJOR WATER RIGHTS CLAIMANTS IN THE UPPER, MIDDLE AND LOWER REACHES OF THE RIO GRANDE.

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is experiencing severe drought, as it has periodically in the past sixty years; and

     WHEREAS, many water rights claimants are concerned that there is not enough water for each water rights claimant to receive a full allocation of water; and

     WHEREAS, one element of a water right that may impact whether a water rights claimant receives a full allocation is the priority date of the water right, which is the date on which the water rights claimant first placed the water right to beneficial use; and

     WHEREAS, a priority call may be used in times of drought in an attempt to ensure that senior water rights claimants will receive their full allocation of water by restricting use of water by junior water rights claimants that have a later priority date; and

     WHEREAS, there are thousands of junior water rights claimants that have rights to the use of the waters of the Rio Grande, and it is possible that many of these junior water rights claimants will not receive any water if the state engineer has to make a priority call on the river; and

     WHEREAS, all municipalities are junior water rights claimants, and a priority call may have a significant impact on these most populous areas of the state; and

     WHEREAS, more than one-half of the population of the state receives water from the Rio Grande basin; and

     WHEREAS, in this time of severe drought, numerous bills have been introduced this session regarding the administration of water rights; and

     WHEREAS, some bills call on the state engineer to allocate water in strict accordance with the priority dates of water rights; others attempt to limit the authority of the state engineer to administer the waters of the state; and a few seem to have the purpose of both requiring strict priority administration and limiting the state engineer's authority; and

     WHEREAS, changing statutes that could have a major impact on how the state engineer administers water should be approached with an abundance of caution during an ongoing drought; and

     WHEREAS, before acting on legislation calling on the state engineer to restrict the use of water, the legislature should have some idea of who the junior water rights claimants are and how they will be affected if a priority call is made;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the state engineer be requested to create a list of major water rights claimants in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Rio Grande, with the most junior water rights claimants listed first; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the office of the state engineer report its findings to the appropriate legislative interim committee by November 1, 2013; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the office of the state engineer.

- 3 -