RELATING TO WATER; AMENDING THE GROUND WATER STORAGE AND RECOVERY ACT TO PROVIDE ELIGIBILITY FOR THE INTERSTATE STREAM COMMISSION TO STORE AND RETRIEVE WATER PURSUANT TO THAT ACT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 72-5A-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1999, Chapter 285, Section 3) is amended to read:

"72-5A-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Ground Water Storage and Recovery Act:

A. "aquifer" means a geologic formation that contains sufficient saturated material to be capable of storing and transmitting water in usable quantities to a well;

B. "area of hydrologic effect" means the underground area where the water is stored and located, hydrologically connected surface waters, adjacent underground areas in which water rights exist that may be impaired, the land surface above the underground areas and any additional land surface used for seepage or infiltration;

C. "governmental entity" means the interstate stream commission, an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo or state political subdivision, including a municipality, county, acequia, irrigation district or conservancy district;

D. "project" means a permitted, engineered facility designed specifically, constructed and operated pursuant to the Ground Water Storage and Recovery Act, to add measured volumes of water by injection or infiltration to an aquifer or system of aquifers, to store the water underground and to recover it for beneficial use pursuant to the Ground Water Storage and Recovery Act but shall not include in situ leach mining operations or water flood operations for petroleum recovery that require approval by the state engineer outside the Ground Water Storage and Recovery Act; and

E. "stored water" means water that has been stored underground for the purpose of recovery and permitted pursuant to the Ground Water Storage and Recovery Act."