Introduction The NM Legislature intended regional water security planning to be a New Mexico regional and community water resilience problem-solving tool and unanimously passed the 2023 Water Security Planning Act to authorize it and provide for state funding. For the planning program to be effective, the rules must provide a clear, high-level framework for the Regional Water Security Planning Program, defining objectives, responsibilities, and implementation processes. The rules must describe the relative roles of ISC, regions, and communities in their cooperative endeavor to understand the limits and trends of their water supplies and evaluate alternatives for improving their resilience. Perhaps most important is that the Rules articulate essential Guiding Principles, such as these: ✅ Proposed Guiding Principles for Effective Regional Water Security Planning ✅ Water planning is to solve water problems; the problems must be named. ✅ Data-driven problem definition must come […]
Collective Action
Learn about the importance of collaborative efforts among diverse stakeholders to address New Mexico’s water challenges and ensure a sustainable water future.
📌 Why It Matters New Mexico’s water security is in crisis. New Mexico’s water security is at a tipping point. Decades of overuse, combined with climate-driven scarcity, are depleting aquifers and threatening the state’s ability to sustain communities, agriculture, and […]
The Tragedy of the Commons: A Lesson from an 8th Grader Why do we struggle to act on problems we know are urgent? An 8th-grade Santa Fe girl’s January 28, 2025, public comment in support of passing Senate Bill 4 […]
As I stood at the edge of the once-vibrant Great Barrier Reef, now a shadow of its former self, a profound sense of loss washed over me. The vivid colors and teeming life I had marveled at in my youth […]
Water problems in New Mexico are community problems. The only way to generate sustainable solutions is to understand water as a collective action problem and empower the people to take action.
20 Argentine Fulbright Scholars evaluated and made recommendations for the Middle Rio Grande's and New Mexico's water future. Their insightful policy recommendations focused on sustainability, inclusion, equity, research, alliances, water governance reform, and public education and incentives. They characterized New […]