NM farmers threaten lawsuit over water meters

Farmers from a narrow strip of fertile land in southwestern New Mexico are accusing the state’s top water management agency of violating their constitutional rights. The group is threatening to sue the state engineer’s office over a mandate that calls for metering devices to be installed along the Mimbres River. State officials say the meters are necessary as drought continues, but the farmers argue the metering program shouldn’t involve them giving the agency unchecked access to their private property. Buddy and Deanna Eby said the state engineer has been fining them $200 a day since late March for not agreeing to an easement on part of their property and installing a meter to monitor the amount of water they pull from the river to irrigate crops and pasture land. Because of the dispute, the couple have been unable to divert water for months and has lost their crops. “It’s about private property and it’s a matter of protecting our Fourth Amendment rights, our right to the expectation of privacy,” Buddy Eby told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “That’s the whole issue. We’re not against metering.” In their notice of intent sue, the farmers contend the state engineer’s office has attempted to “extort an agreement from ditch users that among other things allows ... unfettered, unnoticed access to all corners of these people’s private property.” The letter goes on to say the agency has refused to negotiate over the metering agreements and has used the threat of drastic penalties against water users...more