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

SPONSOR Martinez

DATE TYPED 3/10/05

HB

SHORT TITLE Impounding Of Surface Water For Livestock

SB 900/aSCONC

ANALYST Aguilar

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates HB 1014

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Office of the State Engineer (OSE)

New Mexico Environment Department (NMED)

New Mexico Livestock Board (NMLB)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SCONC Amendment

The Senate Conservation Committee amendment to Senate Bill 900 includes additional language

providing that the provisions of the bill shall not apply to stockmen or livestock owners who may

build or construct water tanks or ponds with a capacity of ten acre feet or less on a dry water

course for the purpose of watering livestock.

SB 900/aSCONC further requires the state engineer to issue a permit to impound and use waters

for applications on a perennial stream if the capacity of the impoundment is ten acre feet or less

and will not impair senior or acequia water rights.

The amendment allows for the impoundment of water for use by wild animals used for human

consumption and provides that the section does not apply to impoundments used exclusively for

fish, fish propagation, recreation or aesthetic purposes.

Senate Bill 900/aSCONC -- Page 2

Significant Issues

The amendment pertaining to exclusive use appears to remove provisions implemented by the

2004 legislature to control water use for uses other than for watering livestock.

The state engineer notes uncontrolled uses, including domestic wells, livestock water impound-

ments, recreational and aesthetic uses and the impacts of livestock surface water impoundments

and domestic wells on the flows of New Mexico’s interstate streams have been the focus of con-

siderable attention in recent years. The authority of the state engineer to administer all uses of

the waters of the state is imperative to the successful management of the resource.

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 900 removes the 10-foot height requirement for all dams that the state engineer re-

views to ensure the design is safe. This bill places design review and approval requirements only

on dams that exceed 10 acre-feet of storage, regardless of height.

SB 900 conditions the requirement to apply to the state engineer for water impoundments to

those desiring to impound perennial surface waters. In the event the proposed impoundment is

not from perennial waters and 10 acre feet or less, state engineer approval is not required.

SB 900 removes factors the state engineer may consider in the permitting process.

Significant Issues

As provided in SB 900, the state engineer would no longer have approval responsibility over pro-

posed dams based on height, only on the volume of impoundments.

SB 900 requires a state engineer permit for watering of livestock only if the proposed impound-

ment would impound perennial surface waters of the state. Under the current statute, a state en-

gineer permit is required to impound any surface water for stock watering purposes, whether the

stream to be impounded is perennial or intermittent, though an expedited permitting process must

be followed for proposed impoundments of ten acre-feet or less that are not on perennial streams.

This expedited permitting process is simple and not burdensome on stock owners.

The state engineer notes uncontrolled uses, including domestic wells and livestock water im-

poundments and the impacts of livestock surface water impoundments and domestic wells on the

flows of New Mexico’s interstate streams have been the focus of considerable attention in recent

years. The authority of the state engineer to administer all uses of the waters of the state is im-

perative to the successful management of the resource.

The state engineer further reports adjudication of water rights in the State of New Mexico is a

time consuming and costly process. Without records of all water uses, the time and monetary ex-

pense of each adjudication rises. Without a permitting process for all livestock water impound-

ments, the state engineer is forced to use other more costly measures to delineate those uses dur-

ing the adjudication process. Lack of permitting requirements in areas administered via a priority

call, requires additional time and resources.

SB 900 removes language by which the state engineer determines the maximum amount of water

required per livestock unit and takes into account regional and climatic conditions. The state

engineer reports removing this language in a worst case scenario would allow the construction of

Senate Bill 900/aSCONC -- Page 3

a livestock water impoundment that could hold ten acre-feet of water for the purposes of water-

ing one animal.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

Page 2, line 18 adds “perennial” to the impoundment of surface waters. This causes the subsec-

tion to conflict with subsection “B” which provides the state engineer shall issue a permit for

those applications where impoundments are not on a perennial stream.

Removing the height restriction results in the exception provided for erosion control structures in

Section 72-5-32 NMSA 1972 being irrelevant.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The state engineer notes sections 72-5-32 and 72-9-3 NMSA 1972 were amended in 2004 to fol-

low the recommendations of a task force established through HJM-4 (2004) that included repre-

sentation from the office of the state engineer, NMSU, the New Mexico Cattle Growers Associa-

tion, the New Mexico Farm Bureau, the Northern New Mexico Stockman’s Association, New

Mexico Acequia Association, and the New Mexico Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The

primary objective of this task force was to protect both the acequias of New Mexico, the needs of

stock growers to impound surface water for stock production, and the flows of New Mexico’s

interstate streams.

PA/lg