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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Anderson

DATE TYPED 3/9/05

HB HJM 48/aHENRC

SHORT TITLE Water Obligations, Needs & Resources Study

SB

ANALYST Aguilar

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

NFI

$420.0 Recurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Office of the State Engineer (OSE)

New Mexico Environment Department (NMED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HENRC Amendment

The House Energy and Natural Resources Committee amendment to House Joint Memorial 48

makes changes to dates requested for reports to be submitted. The joint memorial requests a

progress report to an appropriate interim committee by November 2006 with a final report due

by November 2007.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Joint Memorial 48 makes a request of the state engineer to conduct a comprehensive

statewide assessment of New Mexico's water obligations, needs and resources. The Legislature

requests that the assessment be completed by December 15, 2005.

Significant Issues

HJM 48 requests an assessment of New Mexico’s water resources, needs and obligations as pro-

jected over the next 50 years and that the assessment include specific flow rates, capacities and

House Joint Memorial 48/aHENRC -- Page 2

quantities of the state’s various water systems, legal demands on those systems and the projected

abilities of those systems to meet the demands placed upon them.

The purpose of HJM 48 is to ensure that the state can meet the various water demands into the

future. The charge is very complex and completing the study by the December 15, 2005 deadline

may be untenable.

The State Engineer notes although water assessments have already been conducted for the State

Water Plan, State Water Assessment, and Regional Water Plans, extending knowledge past these

significant efforts will require an extensive field data collection program. Existing funding lev-

els are incapable of this challenge on a statewide level. Conducting these studies and performing

the work proposed under HJM 48 would require a tremendous effort by the Office of the State

Engineer, which would seriously deplete its resources, with no supporting appropriation.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The Office of the State Engineer estimates additional support of 6 additional FTEs will be re-

quired, at an estimated cost of $420 thousand dollars which would not include resources required

for data collection necessary for further evaluation of the water resources of the state.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

An assessment of New Mexico’s water resources was contained in the State Water Plan and

Framework State Water Plan. Estimates of groundwater in storage and current water withdraw-

als were included along with information concerning the availability of surface water. These es-

timates were made based on the available data and research that has been performed to date. It

appears that a large portion of the supply assessment proposed in HJM 48 has already been per-

formed.

PA/lg:yr