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

SPONSOR Nunez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

3/08/2007

HJM 73

SHORT TITLE Climate Change Effect on Flood Control

SB

ANALYST Schuss

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$100.0*

$100.0*

Non-

Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

*Office of the State Engineer estimate

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Office of the State Engineer (OSE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Joint Memorial 73 requests that the Office of the State Engineer conduct a one-year study

of the impacts of climate change on the hydrologic design of flood control facilities

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

OSE states that the memorial provides no financial support to carry out the request. $100,000 is

requested to contract with an engineering firm to summarize the flood plain criteria of various

local governments and changes to frequency-based storms to carry out the request.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

House Joint Memorial 73 states that New Mexico state agencies, including OSE, have conducted

reviews of the reality and possible effects of global warming and of associated climate change,

and these agencies have concluded that both are occurring and will have negative impacts on our

state.

A conference of the world’s experts in the field concluded in a February 2007 report that climate

change is happening, that the actions of humans are, in part, responsible and that many of the

associated adverse impacts cannot be reversed and, in the past, criteria for the hydrologic design

House Joint Memorial 73 – Page

2

of storm structures have been based on the historic record of hydrologic events. One of the

associated effects of climate change that has already been observed is an increase in the number

and magnitude of precipitation events of long duration and great intensity. These precipitation

events have led to flooding that has threatened flood control structures, including dams and

levees, and caused injury and damage to people, animals, farms, homes and businesses in New

Mexico.

OSE has included the following in their analysis of the bill:

The memorial raises several concerns that the design of flood control facilities may be

deficient because of the changes in the historic record of precipitation events. The memorial

requests that the OSE study the impact of changes in precipitation on flood control facilities.

The memorial presents the following statements to support the request, which includes OSE

comments on the statements:

1.

Climate change may render inadequate our reliance on the historical record as criteria for

hydrologic design of flood control facilities.

•

The Federal Government through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Association (NOAA) evaluate and update the frequency-based hydrologic criteria.

The Criteria was recently updated for New Mexico. It is likely that if climate

change continues the Federal Government will update the criteria on a more

frequent basis. Local governments charged with flood plain management will

need to evaluate the affects of changing criteria on their facilities.

•

The OSE has adopted a deterministic event, the probable maximum precipitation

(PMP), as the hydrologic criteria for dams. Methods used by NOAA to determine

the PMP are not generally affected by climate change due to the extreme

conditions already assumed.

2.

There is no state agency responsible for collection and analysis of precipitation data or

tracking and warning of major storms.

•

This statement is correct; however, the Federal Government through the National

Weather Service currently carries out this activity as a service to the general

public.

3.

NM does not have a network of volunteers to track storm events.

•

This statement does not reflect that the New Mexico Climate Center, through

NMSU, is coordinating a network of volunteers (CoCoRAHS) to track

precipitation events in NM, whether this effort is as comprehensive as in other

states is unknown.

4.

No licensing procedure for the experts involved in the design of hydrologic facilities.

•

This statement is correct; however, public facilities are required to be designed by

a professional engineer (PE). Professional Engineers are licensed by the state of

NM and the PE Board requires that engineers provide services in only areas

House Joint Memorial 73 – Page

3

where they have the expertise.

5.

NM does not have a state agency responsible for developing hydrologic criteria for storm

facilities.

•

This statement is correct. Flood control is a local government issue because local

governments regulate development, which must be coordinated with flood plain

management.

6.

NM does not have a state hydrologist or a committee of engineers to advise the OSE on

hydrologic design.

•

The state engineer has adopted hydrologic criteria for dams in the state engineer’s

rules and regulations. Engineers, both civil and geotechnical developed the

hydrologic criteria after thoroughly researching the issue. The OSE hydrologic

criteria are consistent with other western state’s criteria. Because the OSE has no

jurisdiction over flood control issues, which are handled at the local government

level, exerting authority over hydrologic criteria for other flood control facilities

would be inappropriate under existing law.

OSE is requested to report its findings and recommendations to the next sessions of the

legislature.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

OSE states that major performance implications are anticipated for those programs that must

contribute staff resources to develop a meaningful report to the legislature.

BS/csd