Energetic Water Discussion in Taos at the NM Legislature’s interim Water & Natural Resources Committee
Evidence of Overuse & Looming Compact Violations
The Water & Natural Resources Committee considered Middle and Lower Rio Grande overuse and Compact compliance together as one issue.
Legislators’ discussion began with a five-member Water Security Planning Act panel including ISC Director Hannah Riseley-White, former State Engineer Mike Hamman, Jicarilla Apache Tribe water manager Daryl Vigil, New Mexico Acequia Association Policy Director Vidal Gonzales, and me, a former ISC Director and Water Advocates president. I went last.
My three major points:
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Our water situation is dire. Our individual water uses along with nature’s uses have outstripped our water supplies. I emphasized the trend leading to a new Rio Grande Compact violation.
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The Water Security Planning Act should be implemented to meet its potential as a powerful water resources management problem-solving tool, and
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Three priorities require legislative action:
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Implement the 2023 Water Security Planning Act.
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Modernize the Office of the State Engineer and the Interstate Stream Commission. including their compliance with their 2019 Water Data Act responsibilities.
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Enforce water rights by changing the law and funding staff to make enforcement practical and effective.
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Legislators recognize Lower and Middle Rio Grande water overuse and compact compliance are one problem
Legislators’ were engaged. Many still had not spoken when Chair Sen. Liz Stefanics decided to postpone the next panel. She said, “See, we are paying attention to water.” Several legislators directly referred to the Water Advocates handout or the compact compliance graphic while asking questions. 
The Lower Rio Grande’s overuse problem in litigation since 2013 reaches a settlement
State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson, her office’s chief counsel Nat Chakares, ISC Director Hannah Riseley-White, and Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson presented a clear summary explanation of the Lower Rio Grande compact settlement with Texas, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the New Mexico and Texas irrigation districts.
All officials praised the settlement as the best New Mexico could have done.
In my educated opinion, by the time this is over the taxpayers cost for the litigation and the settlement will be at or over $500,000,000.
It’s one big problem
The legislators’ questions and discussion then refocused on Middle Rio Grande and Lower Rio Grande overuse. They again discussed it as a single problem — an alarm that is growing, uncontained, and far from a solution.
Courage
Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Dona Ana, made two strong points. A legislator for 25 years, he is a Las Cruces litigator from a long-established family that owns extensive pecan orchards. He bluntly pinpointed the missing ingredient: Courage.
Later, he mocked the Office of the State Engineer for “planning” a well-metering order for the Middle Rio Grande and “planning” to begin the Middle Rio Grande water rights adjudication. Paraphrasing, He said it was ‘much too little, way too late.’
Yes, but still better than nothing, as the State Engineer’s 2004 shortage-administration rules already have the full backing of the New Mexico Supreme Court (2012). The metering order is one of several initial steps. The water agency executives should be motivated to take those steps very soon.
Urgency
Rep. Matthew McQueen, the Committee vice-chair, asked ISC Director Riseley-White two direct questions about what the ISC is doing to prevent the new compact violation, referring to the trend graphic in the Water Advocates handout. He concluded, saying he was dissatisfied with her lack of urgency.
Authority and Accountability
To be clear, the Office of the State Engineer has the power to stop the overuse, but has not yet taken any overt, public action. The ISC has the responsibility to know the facts and communicate the risk and urgency, and spend money to maintain the river channel. Neither the ISC Director, staff, nor any commissioner publicly recognized any urgency at the Commission’s September public meeting.
The Legislature’s existing accountability metric for Rio Grande Compact compliance should also hold the Office of the State Engineer accountable, not just the ISC. That’s because by law, the State Engineer has the specific responsibility and authority to prevent the Compact violation. The ISC’s purpose with broad authority includes “to protect and to do any and all other things necessary to protect” New Mexico’s water.
Courageous Actions Required
To New Mexico State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson: Please act decisively to prevent the looming Compact violation. It is past time for your office to speak openly about the risks we face — and what your office and others in authority must do to keep the Middle Rio Grande’s water future out of the U.S. Supreme Court.
We wish you Courage and Godspeed.
To Governor Lujan Grisham: Your executive direction to the State Engineer is needed: “do any and all things that are necessary” and within your authority to prevent this new violation of the Rio Grande Compact. Call for the Special Session to pass the 2025 water rights enforcement bill that you recommended by died before its final vote on the Senate floor.
Reference Section 72-2-9.1.A quoted below. This water law passed in 2003 and was upheld by the New Mexico Supreme Court in 2012:
A. The legislature recognizes that the adjudication process is slow, the need for water administration is urgent, compliance with interstate compacts is imperative and the state engineer has authority to administer water allocations in accordance with the water right priorities recorded with or declared or otherwise available to the state engineer.
To the NM Legislature: Provide New Mexico’s water resources management agencies with the resources and capacity they require to do their jobs to protect New Mexico’s water resources. Pass the 2025 enforcement bill.
To the public: Demand officials take emergency actions to prevent New Mexico’s new violation of the Rio Grande Compact next year that will place the Middle Rio Grande’s water future in the unfettered and unappealable discretion of the U. S. Supreme Court.
Interested members of the public should know:
The Rio Grande Compact shields the Middle Rio Grande from downstream demands, but only as long as New Mexico stays in compliance.
Since 2018, New Mexico’s annual overuse has averaged about 22,200 acre-feet — small compared to average Rio Grande inflows of more than 750,000 acre-feet per year.
Groundwater pumping undermines the river’s flow.
Coming Soon
Articles describing,
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The looming risk: If New Mexico fails to prevent a new Rio Grande Compact violation, the State’s neglect will impose severe risks on the State and Middle Rio Grande residents. The article will describe why and how the Compact violation risks our river and our lifestyles.
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Polycentric water governance: Effective stewardship requires state government, local governments, and the special districts that supply water to share authority and responsibility. Only by working together can we manage common water supplies to meet today’s needs and secure water for future generations of New Mexicans.
- Actions the State must take and should consider.
Hyperlinks
Four Water Advocates panel handouts are are posted by the committee under Item 9. They include:
- Water Advocates’ flyer,
- Water Advocates’ suggested goals for the 2026 Legislature,
- My slides, and
- My redline update of the narrative presentation I made to this committee three years ago.
My update shows the goals are unchanged and that progress is slow, too slow for water security.
View the Taos News report of the panel presentations.
View the Legislature’s webcast of the panels beginning at 9:16:45.