This is a critique of the water-related special appropriations in House Bill 2, the 2025 General Appropriation Act that passed the House on February 24. The appropriations emphasize treating brackish water as a niche water supply rather than seeking broad water security in the face of scarce, shrinking water supplies. What is Water Security? The United Nations published a practical definition of water security that is applicable to New Mexico’s situation. Water Security Laws Implementation: Underfunded and Stalled New Mexico’s water, cultural, and economic security would be substantially boosted if the State Engineer and Interstate Stream Commission vigorously implemented three 21st Century additions to New Mexico water law. All three are essential to New Mexico’s adaptation to having much less water. The Legislature, having passed these important policies and authorities into state water law, must appropriate resources to the Office […]
Water Commons
House Bill 2, the 2025 General Appropriation Act, favors dirty water clean-up over good water stewardship. This is a huge mistake. Learn more and why we are asking the Senate to now allocate $6.9 million to cover "shovel-ready" implementation work.
by John R. Brown This essay argues for an alternative to a mechanistic application of “priority administration” to allocate the “waters of New Mexico.” The 2023 Water Security Planning Act (WSP) provides flexibility at local and regional levels to move […]
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 […]
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 […]