New Mexico lawmakers are considering setting aside $20 million that could be used as seed money as water managers, municipalities and farmers scramble to find ways to reduce groundwater pumping that is at the center of a high-stakes legal battle.
The fight over the Rio Grande has pitted Texas against New Mexico as demands increase and drought persists. It will be up to a special master appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court to eventually decide how New Mexico goes about ensuring enough of the Rio Grande flows south to users in Texas and Mexico.
Right now, the system is out of balance, and Texas is arguing that New Mexico should be forced to reduce its pumping by as much as 60%. That would be equivalent to more than half of the water supplied annually to residents in Albuquerque, the state’s largest city.
Such a reduction would be disastrous for users in southern New Mexico, says John D’Antonio, New Mexico’s top water engineer.
He has spent weeks testifying before lawmakers, explaining that prioritizing funding to find new ways to reduce groundwater pumping along the lower Rio Grande could be an opportunity for New Mexico to show Texas and federal officials it’s being proactive.
The seed money would be used over three years for a combination of projects, from paying farmers to voluntarily fallow their land at certain times to efforts aimed at recharging the aquifer connected to the river. Other initiatives could involve importing more water...
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1 comment:
Who is pumping the waters of the Rio Grande? Mostly cities is my guess, but immediately the whiners want the farmers to fallow their fields. The Irrigation water is taken directly from the River and not from underground aquifers IMO. So talk to the city water user and not the farmer. Besides, what city provides the food you eat at every meal?
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