The New Mexico Water Dialogue’s
13th Annual Statewide Meeting
January 12, 2007
Water Planning – So What?
Panel I: Where Are the Regional Water Plans Now?
Implementation Successes and Failures, and Lessons Learned
Ed Moreno: I’m going to go in order introducing the panel: Gary Esslinger, participant in the Lower Rio Grande Regional Water Plan, is Manager of the Elephant Butte Irrigation District; Peggy Johnson is Senior Hydrologist at the Bureau of Geology at New Mexico Tech; Dutch Salmon is a board member of the Dialogue and a participant in the Southwest Regional Water Plan; and Simeon Herskovits, formerly with the Western Environmental Law Center, and now with his own firm, Advocates for Community Environment.
Regional Water Planning in the LowerRio GrandeBasin
Gary Esslinger, Manager
Elephant Butte Irrigation District
Gary Esslinger: Good morning. Thank you for this opportunity to talk to you a little bit about how we worked on our regional water plan in the Lower Rio Grande. (Figure 1) It’s no surprise to anybody where we’re located—we’re right down on the border and that’s a big issue for us because our downstream users are Texas and Mexico. We have to ensure that through Elephant Butte Irrigation District, we make sure that the water in the river gets to those users.
(Next slide) In Figure 2, you can see that agriculture plays a big role in southern New Mexico. 90% of the water is used by ag. You understand from this slide that domestic wells, livestock, commercial, and M&I use is quite small. If you looked at this pie chart in reverse, you’d see that the population, the consumers of water are about 90% and the ag users—there’s about 8,500 of us.
Figure 2 - Water Use by Sector in LRG
(Next slide - Figure 3) The ‘plumbing’ is quite complex in the Lower Rio Grande. At the top of the slide you can see that we got a lot of our releases from Caballo even though the water is stored in the combination of Elephant Butte and Caballo. The major point of this slide is to also look at who we have to deliver to after it gets through our plumbing and that’s El Paso and Mexico. So the regional planning in our area is quite convoluted and complex.
Figure 3 - LRG Hydrology
(Next slide - Figure 4) The Lower Rio Grande water users consist of quite a few entities and these have worked quite well together over the years, so it wasn’t hard for us to come together to develop the regional water plan. Our initial completion was in 2004, and we believe the basin-specific AWRM rules will constitute the implementation of our regional water plan.
Figure 4 - Lower Rio Grande Water Users Organization
Established to produce the Regional Water Plan
City of Las Cruces
Elephant Butte Irrigation District
New MexicoStateUniversity
DoñaAnaCounty
Doña Ana MDWCA
Village of Hatch
Town of Mesilla
Anthony WSD
Initial mission completed in 2004
Basin Specific AWRM constitutes implementation of Regional Water Plan
(Next slide - Figure 5) The key principles of our water plan was first to understand that the Lower Rio Grande is fully appropriated; growth will have to come from transfers from existing uses, and from new supplies: desal and possibly imported water. Again, we have to battle growth against increasing Rio Grande depletion levels, and certainly our concern is we believe that conjunctive management of surface and groundwater is crucial and critical, and we’re working with the State Engineer and also with our Lower Rio Grande user groups to try to manage this conjunctively. The AWRM rules came in after our water plan was initiated—obviously you know a lot of this from presentations the State Engineer has made—but these play a significant part in how we will implement our regional water plan. It all boils down to the last bullet, which is the basin-specific regs. The State Engineer is allowing us to introduce what we believe will be a way we can manage our Lower Rio Grande watermaster district using basin-specific rules. We do have problems right now with the state rules, and that’s another story.
Figure 5 - Key Principles of Regional Water Plan
Water in LRG is fully appropriated
Growth will have to come from transfers from existing uses or new supplies
Imported water
Desalination
The pressing need is to plan for growth without increasing Rio Grande depletion levels
Conjunctive management of surface and ground water is crucial
Our specific objectives are to eliminate illegal diversions and over-diversions within the watermaster district. Certainly within EBID, we’re doing that as we speak. We’re putting meters on our farmers’ wells; we’re putting meters on our diversions; we’re putting meters on our turnouts so we know both what surface water is being used by our constituents and what groundwater is being used. Certainly we want to protect the senior rights, which are the ag users. We need to establish procedures if the State Engineer uses a priority administration in time of shortage, and we believe we have a solution to help him. That requires the framework of an alternative administration, which we believe we developed back in 2003, before we had to start managing our basins.
(Next slide - Figure 6) These are forms of priority administration that he can use. Certainly the one we’re concerned about is a priority call that we could make or the Bureau [of Reclamation] could make if for some reason downstream users felt like they weren’t getting their water.
Figure 6 - Active Water Resource Management - AWRM
State regulations for priority administration in the absence of a completed adjudication
Junior users are curtailed in times of shortage
Junior users may continue to use water if they develop a replacement plan to offset impacts on senior users
Water Master for each basin
State-wide regulations
Basin-specific regulations
(Next slide - 7) The alternative administrative principles is really based on something we’re working out right now with the Bureau of Reclamation and with the El Paso Water Improvement District, which is our sister district in the Rio Grande Project, and that is an Operating Agreement. We believe that we have come close to finalizing that and have even implemented it in this 2006 year where EBID went ahead and ensured that the surface supplies to Texas were met even though we curtailed some of our allotment so that that allocation to Texas could be met. That’s called the D-3 Alternative [?] to the way we divert and release our water from Elephant Butte and Caballo.
7 - Active Water Resource Management - AWRM
State regulations for priority administration in the absence of a completed adjudication
Junior users are curtailed in times of shortage
Junior users may continue to use water if they develop a replacement plan to offset impacts on senior users
Water Master for each basin
State-wide regulations
Basin-specific regulations
This definitely sets up boundary conditions and it actually took a lot of pressure off the State Engineer because, again, the surface water that has to be delivered to El Paso and Mexico has to go through EBID, so we gave the State of New Mexico a solution that will help him in managing that Lower Rio Grande watermaster district. This only applies to surface water, and that is where, then, we also have to deal with the groundwater pumping that is going on in the Lower Rio Grande from the City of Las Cruces, the county, the municipalities, domestic wells and also from the farmers. What we’ve tried to do is work with the State Engineer, and just recently—in the last day or two—we settled out of court the metering order that he had called upon for the Lower Rio Grande district.
We believe that we have a solution we can go forward with. Also, we think that there’s a possibility through the special Water Users Association, which I’ll talk about a little later, that we can transfer agricultural water to a municipal and industrial use by allowing cities and those who are junior to the senior rights the opportunity to acquire surface water rights.
8 - LRG Basin-Specific Objectives
To eliminate illegal diversions and over diversions within the Water Master District
To protect water rights, including those associated with the Rio Grande Project
To establish procedures for use of priority administration in times of shortage
To establish the requirements and framework for alternative administration
9 - Forms of Priority Administration
Direct Flow Administration
Priority Call by EBID or US Bureau of Reclamation
Storage Water Administration
Supply Administration
Depletion Limit Administration
10 - Alternative Administration Principles
Project supply to Texas – determined by Rio Grande Project allocation to EPCWID and Mexico
Allocation/operating agreement being developed in trilateral mediation
Will define boundary conditions
Surface water only
Internal – determined by priority
Out-of-priority users provided access to senior water via market-based transfer
Surface water to offset groundwater impacts
Direct use of surface water
(Next slide - 11) The objectives of AWRM are to maximize the beneficial use in New Mexico; ensure that we supply Texas; fit administration into the hydrology, and that’s the difficult and complex issue that we’re dealing with right now; and maintain the hydrologic health and sustainability of the basin. And again, going back to conjunctively managing surface and groundwater, the Office of the State Engineer has authority over the groundwater, but EBID has authority over the surface water down there, sand we have to work closely with the Office of the State Engineer, but we transfer water every day down there and we found a solution we believe that we can now allow transfers to municipalities as well.
11 - Objectives of AWRM Alternative Administration
Maximize beneficial use in New Mexico
Ensure Project supply to Texas
Fit administration to hydrology of basin
Maintain hydrologic health and sustainability of basin
Conjunctive management of surface and groundwater
OSE authority over groundwater
EBID authority over surface water
Ensure equity within basin
And then, of course, we’ve got to ensure the equity within the basin. SWUAs…they allow an entity to use surface water for municipal, industrial and other uses within the district boundaries. They become owners of project water rights, which make them all of a sudden senior water rights, where before they were junior. It gives us the ability to lease project water rights, transfer project water rights, and even purchase—outright sell—project water.
12 - SWUAs
Allow entity to use surface water for M&I and other uses within District boundaries
Ownership of Project Water rights
Lease of Project Water rights
Transfer of Project Water
This started quite some time ago and was developed over a period of time in cooperation with the City of Las Cruces, which sits pretty much right in the middle of the irrigation district boundaries. We also got the Stare Engineer to work with us and there’s oversight by the State in the development of this policy. We developed our policy—it was approved in 2003—and now there’s even state legislation (statutes and a law in place) that gives us the ability to make these transfers happen.
13 - Foundations for Special Water Users Associations
Developed by EBID, City of Las Cruces, and the State Engineer
EBID Policy 2003-GA8, approved November 19, 2003
73-10-48 NMSA
The details of our Special Water Users Association are that all of a sudden, these entities become EBID constituents and they have to place an order just like a farmer would. They also share in shortages. If we have a three-foot allotment, they get a three-foot allotment. If there’s a twelve-inch, or as in some drought periods we’ve had, an eight-inch allotment, that’s all they get, too. Surface water rights maintain EBID priority dates, so all of a sudden cities who had a junior right have now a senior right of 1906. SWUAs must lease all the water from a parcel, so we can make sure no one is double dipping.
You can form special units—we have a lot of small tracts that don’t use surface water anymore so the cities are purchasing those, and as they join those and become over two acres of land, they can be combined for ordering and billing. This takes a whole lot of the administration out of sending an independent bill to every small-tract user in the City of Las Cruces. What’s neat about this is it’s formed a water bank in a sense, because until we actually build a surface water treatment plant where these surface water rights are held, they’re actually put in a bank and are still used for ag until development takes place.
14 - SWUA Details
Assessed as EBID constituents
Share pro rata in shortages
Surface water rights maintain EBID’s 1906 priority date
SWUA must lease all of the water from a parcel; land must be fallowed
Special Combined Unit: Small tracts (<2 acres) can be consolidated and treated as farm tract for ordering and billing
Maintained as Ag use until demand for direct M&I use develops
(Next slide) Who can be in an SWUA? Cities, counties, StateUniversity, member-owned community systems, political utilities and we also think the Interstate Stream Commission can be a party so that if we have a reason to move water downstream, we have the state agency that can help us do that in times of shortages. Right now we have the City of Las Cruces signed up as an SWUA, and we have three member-owned community systems signed up as SWUAs.
15 - Who Can Form SWUAs?
Municipalities
Counties
State Universities
Member-owned community systems
Public utilities
Interstate Stream Commission
This is the way we used to transfer water. We’d get an allotment; it would go to the ag users; ag would use the water or it would go into the pool for other farmers to use.
16 - Traditional Ag – to – Ag transfers
(Next slide) Now with an SWUA, we get an allotment, but some water can go to the ag users, and some can go to the Special Water Users Association. If the SWUAs haven’t built their surface water treatment plant yet, then you can see where it goes back to the agricultural pool. In time, we think as the SWUAs acquire more rights, we will build and develop a municipal pool, so there will be a base of water rights that they can start using to bond, for bonding purposes to build their surface water treatment plant.
17 - SWUA Ag – to – M&I transfers
The relationship between the SWUAs and the AWRM is pretty much the basis of how we can administer our regional water plan because this provides the alternative to strict priority administration. It allows the Special Water Users—junior users—to move up in seniority as a priority user. The common priority date among EBID SWUAs and irrigators create a pro-rata sharing of shortages. The mechanism is also there for a replacement plant, and it’s a market-driven process.
18 - Relationship of SWUAs to AWRM
SWUAs provide an alternative to strict priority administration
SWUAs allow junior M&I users to move up in seniority/priority
Common priority date among EBID SWUAs and irrigators create pro rata sharing of shortages
Mechanism for replacement plan
Market-driven process
There are also policies that allow us to stack water rights. It allows one acre of land to carry up to two acres of water rights. Higher use crops will usually take these water rights and stack them—this is all through the transfer mechanism. It formalizes and makes a permanent customary practice and allows SWUAs to hold more water on less pertinent [?] land and it’s market-based.
19 - Stacking Water Rights
EBID Policy No. 2005-ENG1
Allows one acre of land to carry up to two acres of water rights
Higher water use crops
Provide more surface water in short supply years
Formalizes and makes permanent customary practice
Allows SWUAs to hold more water on less appurtenant land
Market-based process
Current status of the AWRM…well, we understand one time it was challenged. That challenge may be dropped, but in the Lower Rio Grande where they’re actively trying to present those rules, it’s being challenged at this point. We’re trying to work out our differences with the State Engineer. There are public meetings ongoing at this time and a comment period allowed to let more people comment on those rules. The Lower Rio Grande basin-specific regs are, again, in process. Conflicts arising right now from the AWRM are: the issue of duty of water; domestic wells have not been curtailed; issues about a high impact zone which takes away the whole process of priority dates; and of course, we’ve worked out the metering order problem. The Lower Rio Grande Water Users have the duty to try to formulate the alternative administrative rules to help maybe take away some of those conflicts that are in the regular statewide rules. And that’s the status of where we are with the Lower Rio Grande.
20 - Current Status of AWRM
Constitutionality challenge in MRG
LRG Basin Specific Regulations in process
Second public draft available:
Conflict arising on issues of duty of water, domestic wells, high impact zone, metering order
LRGWUO to formulate Alternative Administration rules
Are we going to take questions now?
Photos go here (if wanted)
Ed Moreno: Only if there’s something you didn’t understand, a clarifying question that’s really, really critical. Otherwise I’d like to reserve general questions until all of the panelists have completed their presentations.