HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 53

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005

INTRODUCED BY

Rhonda S. King

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE STATE ENGINEER, WHEN EVALUATING APPLICATIONS TO EXPORT GROUND WATER OUT OF THE BASIN OF ORIGIN, TO CONSIDER THE AVAILABILITY OF WATER SUPPLIES WITHIN THE BASIN TO WHICH WATER IS BEING EXPORTED.

     WHEREAS, certain governmental entities are considering or have considered policies to mine and export ground water from closed basins, such as the Estancia basin, which are often the sole water supply sources for communities; and

     WHEREAS, the ground water resources of these basins are not renewable and will not be replenished because they are being mined; and

     WHEREAS, the exportation of ground water from these basins has the potential to shorten their productivity; and

     WHEREAS, the Estancia basin regional water plan provides that the exportation of ground water is contrary to the greater interest of the planning area and that it must be aggressively discouraged and opposed; and

     WHEREAS, the ground water of the Estancia basin constitutes the sole potable water supply upon which the communities in the basin depend; and

     WHEREAS, the local governments of Moriarty, Estancia, Mountainair, Edgewood and Torrance county and local residents of the Estancia basin have joined together in opposing increased mining and exportation of ground water from the Estancia basin; and

     WHEREAS, the boards of county commissioners of Torrance, Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties have actively discouraged the exportation of any ground water from the Estancia basin; and

     WHEREAS, during the hearings on the regional water plan and the Torrance county comprehensive ordinance, the residents of the Estancia basin consistently voiced their opposition to the exportation of water from the Estancia basin, fearing that exportation will both impair the existing water rights and be detrimental to the planning regions' public welfare; and

     WHEREAS, the state engineer has administratively designated parts of the Estancia basin as a critical management area, curbing domestic and other uses of water; and

     WHEREAS, there is uncertainty regarding the maximum amount of ground water that will be placed to beneficial use in any given year within the Estancia basin, and all studies conclude that current existing diversions from the aquifer exceed the rate at which it is being recharged; and

     WHEREAS, the continued and future economic existence of the Estancia basin communities is dependent on a reliable, if not entirely sustainable, water supply; and

     WHEREAS, some ground and surface water basins have access to reliable, renewable sustainable water supplies from renewable stream systems and have the ability to acquire water rights within those systems and also have sufficient ground water resources to sustain their current and projected growth needs; and

     WHEREAS, the public welfare of the state of New Mexico is served by requiring other basins to develop the available surface and ground water resources within their own basins rather than mining the nonrenewable ground water resources in the rural Estancia basin and depriving fellow New Mexicans, including ranchers, farmers and local governments, of a future;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the exportation of mined ground water from a closed ground water basin be consistent with the public welfare of New Mexico and not contrary to the planning objectives set forth in a regional water plan, and that the state engineer require that any application to export ground water from a mined ground water basin be supported by demonstrable need of the importing basin and proof that there are no alternative in-basin sources of water to supply the importing basin; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state engineer be requested to adopt the above provisions as part of the process for evaluating applications proposing to export ground water from the Estancia basin; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the state engineer.

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