44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TO APPOINT AN INTERIM WATER COMMITTEE TO DEVELOP LEGISLATION FOR THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FORTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE TO ADDRESS URGENT LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS.

WHEREAS, New Mexico water is the subject of at least twenty major lawsuits and federal initiatives that individually and collectively threaten the state government's continued authority to administer New Mexico's water; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico's overuse of the Pecos river has cost the state more than fifty-five million dollars ($55,000,000) since the United States supreme court in 1987 enjoined the state to comply with the interstate compact, and this expenditure has not achieved permanent compliance and has not eliminated the risk that New Mexico may violate that injunction; and

WHEREAS, the implication of the supreme court injunction is that most New Mexicans who live in the Pecos river basin are in peril of losing their livelihoods and ways of life as a result of a potential priority call; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico's current compliance with the Rio Grande Compact requirements at Elephant Butte reservoir actually follows serious historical shortfalls that resulted in litigation with Texas, again in the supreme court, litigation between the state and its water users and extremely costly and highly controversial facilities management protocols developed in the 1950s; and

WHEREAS, the 1950s' solutions for the Rio Grande Compact problems have been adequate to date but are clearly inadequate for the future, portending potential loss of water supply for New Mexicans in the Rio Grande valley; and

WHEREAS, Texas has asserted in federal, interstate litigation now under way in the lower Rio Grande that New Mexico ground water pumping has deprived Texas of its share of Rio Grande water and impaired the quality of water it does receive; and

WHEREAS, if water shortages in New Mexico, Texas and Mexico are not avoided, the United States supreme court may become the permanent policymaker, not the New Mexico state legislature; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico water is being demanded by the federal government for endangered species in a manner that increases depletions of these fully appropriated stream systems, imperiling New Mexico's allocation of Colorado river water, New Mexicans' water rights, the state's economy, its culture, its future prosperity and its legal authority; and

WHEREAS, diminishment of water quality threatens water supplies, requires additional investments in treatment and causes environmental degradation and potential litigation expenses; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico has enjoyed two decades of unusually wet weather, and many leaders and citizens appear to have forgotten or never experienced the extreme anguish and problems that inevitable droughts will bring; and

WHEREAS, political gridlock results from cumbersome, costly administration of New Mexico's existing water law; and

WHEREAS, the state's water supply is for the most part fully appropriated, and the office of the state engineer is strained beyond its fiscal resources to effectively process the pending caseload of water permit applications and water rights adjudication procedures in various federal and state courts; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico's failure to complete adjudications will lead to overuse of its interstate water rights, impairment of senior water rights, severe curtailment of junior uses, more costly litigation and continued federal intervention; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico faces the imperatives to conserve water, stretch its uses and transfer uses while not impairing water rights or compliance with interstate obligations; and

WHEREAS, cities are already perilously close to emergency measures; Las Cruces with sufficient water rights for only three years of anticipated growth and no sources for acquisition of additional water rights, Albuquerque potentially losing its San Juan-Chama rights and rapidly depleting its underground supplies, Santa Fe facing threats to its watershed and ground water supply from development and Clovis and Hobbs facing tremendous expenditures for new wells and infrastructure to maintain adequate service levels; and

WHEREAS, Native American water rights have not been asserted completely or quantified, creating doubts that existing water users will continue to enjoy their present water uses; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico is fiftieth among the states in per capita income and life, economic viability, environmental health and cultural preservation, and social stability depends on water; and

WHEREAS, the legislative finance committee recommends in its 1999 report to the legislature that statutory changes be made to improve water management; and

WHEREAS, New Mexicans are fond of saying "el agua es la vida"; it is time that New Mexico's actions reflect that truth;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico legislative council be requested to reappoint an interim water committee to develop legislation to improve the efficiency and timeliness of water rights administration, adjudication and enforcement, including statewide metering and codification of stream flow water rights without impairing existing water rights, beneficial uses and interstate obligations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the water committee submit proposals for legislation to the New Mexico legislative council by December 1, 1999; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico legislative council, the governor, the state engineer and the interstate stream commission.