SENATE MEMORIAL 65

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Crystal R. Diamond and Joseph Cervantes

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

IDENTIFYING THE SERIOUSNESS OF MIDDLE RIO GRANDE COMPACT ADMINISTRATION IN RELATION TO THE RIO GRANDE COMPACT AND REQUESTING THE STATE ENGINEER AND THE INTERSTATE STREAM COMMISSION TO EXERCISE THEIR AUTHORITIES AND TO CLOSELY COORDINATE THEIR EFFORTS TO ADMINISTER THE COMPACT IN EQUITABLE PARTNERSHIP WITH WATER RIGHTS OWNERS AND IMPACTED LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

 

     WHEREAS, the Rio Grande Compact requires that New Mexico deliver a certain amount of water each year to Elephant Butte reservoir; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has a Rio Grande Compact debit obligation with a risk of costly litigation; and

     WHEREAS, the annual water delivery quantity requirement to Elephant Butte reservoir depends largely on the annual inflow to the middle Rio Grande at the Otowi gage; and

     WHEREAS, year-end water delivery credits and debits are accrued from year to year; and

     WHEREAS, accrued water debits exceeding two hundred thousand acre-feet are a violation of the Rio Grande Compact; and

     WHEREAS, violations of the Rio Grande Compact frequently elicit expensive interstate lawsuits; and

     WHEREAS, recently, consumptive uses of water in the middle Rio Grande region have been sufficiently large that New Mexico has moved from an accrued water delivery credit of sixty-two thousand four hundred acre-feet at the end of 2013 to an accrued water delivery debit of one hundred twenty-seven thousand acre-feet at the end of 2021; and

     WHEREAS, urgent action is needed because New Mexico's accrued water delivery debits have been rapidly approaching the violation threshold; and

     WHEREAS, consumptive uses of water within the middle Rio Grande region could be reduced to avoid a Rio Grande Compact violation; and

     WHEREAS, the consumptive uses of water in the region consist of human uses that can be coordinated in part by the state engineer in equitable partnership with rights owners and impacted local communities, mainly through active water resource management and natural and riparian uses that can be coordinated in part by federal, tribal and local land and water rights owners and water management agencies in conjunction with the interstate stream commission, mainly through river channel management and voluntary consumption reductions incentivized by equitable compensation; and

     WHEREAS, close coordination between the state engineer and the interstate stream commission in the coordination of consumptive uses to meet Rio Grande Compact obligations is imperative; and

     WHEREAS, ongoing integrated water resource planning and management is vital to ensure the future economic, ecological and cultural well-being of New Mexico and the state's local communities; and

     WHEREAS, precedent exists for voluntary, equitable and compensatory agreements for water use reductions between the state engineer, the interstate stream commission and individual water rights owners in order to meet interstate compact requirements; and

     WHEREAS, one model of such a precedent is the agreement dated March 25, 2003 between the state engineer, interstate stream commission and Fort Sumner irrigation district;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the importance of wise water management and administration to meet Rio Grande Compact obligations be affirmed, while noting that a lack of capacity in state agencies has hampered the ability of the state agencies to fulfill the agencies' potential; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that compliance with the water delivery obligations of interstate stream compacts be considered of paramount importance to the public welfare of the state; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, subject only to the exemption of Indian rights and uses of water, the state engineer, in coordination with the interstate stream commission, water rights owners and local communities, be requested to administer water rights to ensure that New Mexico reliably complies with the Rio Grande Compact's water delivery obligations; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state engineer and the interstate stream commission be requested to provide incentives for participation and convene, fund and sponsor an inclusive and transparent collaborative process to develop a negotiated and voluntary water shortage sharing agreement based on equitable compensation among all significant water rights and water permit holders that meets the criteria for a priority administration plan set forth in rules promulgated by the state engineer pursuant to Section 72-2-9.1 NMSA 1978; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the office of the governor, the interstate stream commission, the office of the state engineer, the middle Rio Grande conservancy district and the Albuquerque-Bernalillo county water utility authority.

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