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Water Policy Reform

river in winter with the words agua es vida: do your part

From the President’s Desk: “The Middle Rio Grande Water Governance Forecast is for Accelerating Progress in 2024!”

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Part II – Co-Creation of a Sustainable Water Future for the Middle Rio Grande

Introduction to Part II 

The past two years have set the stage for accelerated progress in managing New Mexico’s water resources for much greater resilience, as described in Part I, a 2023 summary report. Part II is about 2024. 

Two years of action have been productive. Under State Engineer Mike Hamman’s adept leadership since January 2022, New Mexico created and began implementing pivotal strategies recommended by consensus, most were unanimous, of the 2022 Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force. Progress in 2023 demonstrates a crucial shift in New Mexico’s approach to water governance, moving from historical neglect to a proactive path focused on resilience and sustainability. More leaders know New Mexico faces a profound water problem and are taking action. Fewer are ignoring or denying it. 

Water Advocates 2024 Action Plan

Generous board member and public donations to the Water Advocates in November and December and our intensive planning work last fall made it possible for the Water Advocates to prepare the illustration below. It shows creation of a Middle Rio Grande Water Planning Entity and a substantial amount of preliminary work to set the stage for the Entity to be immediately productive in 2026 after its collaborative creation in 2025. 

Leaders of several state and local government water agencies and institutions have expressed support recently for the technical plan to implement the 2023 Water Security Planning Act in the Middle Rio Grande. The illustrated parallel approach, presuming substantive progress is made starting NOW could result in completion of the Middle Rio Grande regional plan before the next decade. A sequential approach that waits until 1) the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission has completed rules for implementation of the statewide program, and 2) doesn’t complete technical mandatory work and analyses in parallel throughout 2024 and 2025 would not allow completion of the Middle Rio Grande plan until 2033, at the earliest. 

Motivation for Change

The Middle Rio Grande requires effective changes now to the status quo management of the Middle Rio Grande’s water resources. Our state officials have already dealt with a Texas legal motion and brief to expand the US Supreme Court litigation to include the Middle Rio Grande. The Court said no. Texas will certainly sue to enforce the plain terms of the Rio Grande Compact requirements that define the Middle Rio Grande’s share if we violate them. 

If we don’t act now, and if the State Engineer continues to not regulate Middle Rio Grande excess water uses and allows New Mexico to violate the explicit compact water delivery requirements, the US Supreme Court will step in. This would be a gross failure of water management because overuse in the Middle Rio Grande deprives New Mexicans who live downstream of Elephant Butte Dam of their full 57% share of the water that the interstate and federal compact, a binding water sharing agreement, requires New Mexico to deliver through the Middle Rio Grande. A violation will show New Mexico can’t solve its own intrastate water allocation problem.

Continuing unsustainable water depletions in the Middle Rio Grande hurts the region. Every year that the Middle Valley depletes more groundwater than is sustainable, and depletes the flow of the Rio Grande more than our legal share, also eliminates a slice of future Middle Rio Grande water sustainability. 

“If your in hole you can’t get out of, first stop digging.”

Emergency Reactions Versus Planned Actions

The Middle Rio Grande is depleting more of its legal share of the Rio Grande, directly, and through pumping groundwater from aquifers adjacent to the Rio Grande. The trend is bad. Inaction or counterproductive actions by Middle Rio Grande water purveyors and our federal and state governments has allowed Middle Rio Grande unsustainable uses of the river and our aquifer system to threaten current compliance. Governments must immediately react to prevent the compact violation.

The State Engineer has two choices. He can continue to rely on facts and persuasion, which is not working, or he can regulate. Regulation means a priority administration. The New Mexico Supreme Court in 2012 upheld State Engineer rules promulgated in 2004, giving the State Engineer the clear authority to make a priority call based on the best information available to the State Engineer. Pueblo sovereign water uses are exempt by law. The water rights that will remain in priority are the oldest, for irrigation. Rights to water developed later will be out of priority. 

Reaction implemented for the 2024 snowmelt runoff season to prevent another round of highly demanding and distracting US Supreme Court litigation lasting a decade or more is essential. The reaction can’t be a singular event. It must continue and undoubtedly will bring on much litigation by the curtailed less senior water users, which include the Middle Rio Grande’s cities and the water for much of New Mexico’s economy.

Action taken for water sustainability is available to the Middle Valley through the illustrated plan that would implement the 2023 Water Security Planning Act in the Middle Rio Grande. Creating an agreed set of sustainable actions is superior to always reacting. However we must accept that the current compact compliance status requires the State Engineer’s emergency reaction in 2024.

Collaborative creation of a plan for the Middle Rio Grande’s water, economic, cultural, and environmental survival will require a concentrated effort beginning now to complete our plan this decade, so the plan can be implemented over the next.

Middle Rio Grande self-organization to refine, share, and implement the illustrated vision will shave many years off a more passive, don’t-act-until-the ISC-completes-its-rules-and-guidelines approach. Future generations of New Mexicans depend on all of us to recognize and Do our Parts, because Agua es Vida! Each year we allow the status quo of unsustainable water uses to continue diminishes the Middle Rio Grande’s future.

Two Essential Ingredients

The Middle Rio Grande requires two ingredients to accelerate the progress of 2022 and 2023 and bring that acceleration to our region, our home. One is a Middle Rio Grande initiative to self-organize to refine, share, and implement the illustrated vision. The other is money. 

Self-organization is building but it requires governmental support and funding. Bernalillo County appropriated $200,000 for expenditure before June to initiate implementation of the 2023 Water Security Planning Act in the Middle Rio Grande. That funding could provide the resources required to complete “Phase 0” of the illustrated plan by then and to begin a program of public education and outreach regarding the facts of our water governance situation.

The volunteer NM Legislature’s disregard for New Mexico’s Water

Why its so important Bernalillo County appropriated $200,000 of one-time funds in the Middle Rio Grande.   It’s because the 2023 Legislature, with unprecedented revenue surpluses available in 2023 to appropriate, passed the landmark 2023 Water Security Planning Act but failed to authorize the staff or provide the budget required for timely Interstate Stream Commission and regional implementation.

This custom and tradition of New Mexico’s Legislature is called out by the 2022 New Mexico Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force in recommendation 2.7. Nonetheless, the legislature continued the custom and tradition in 2023. 

That is a custom and tradition of the State of New Mexico, as water sovereign, must leave behind. The NM Legislature must put its money where its mouth is.  The list of critically-important-to-New-Mexico’s-future laws passed by the Legislature, such as the 2019 Water Data Act, but very poorly funded given their existential importance, is lengthy. 

It’s as if one branch of the sovereign does not understand Water is Life! Everyone must do their part! Especially the sovereign, all three branches.

Although the Governor’s proposed budget for the 2024 Legislature’s consideration includes 27 of the 31 new positions requested by the Office of the State Engineer/Interstate Stream commission and other long-overdue increases, it contains nothing to support work within New Mexico’s water planning regions. Water planning regions are the statutory heart of future New Mexico planning. Water planning pursuant to this act doesn’t happen without regional self-organization, per the new law. 

Dr. Ladona Clayton, Executive Director of the Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy, and I, worked together to develop our joint recommendations that we presented to the Legislature’s Water and Natural Resources Committee on November 7, 2023. She and I are both NM Water Ambassadors, the brand given by the State Engineer who convened and chaired the Water Task Force to its members. Our panel included ISC Director Hannah Riseley-White and ISC Planning Program Manager Andrew Erdmann. 

Dr. Clayton and I fear the Legislature will continue to neglect the immediate needs of regions that are in crisis and have a critical need for collaborative solutions. She and I also would like to see immediate changes by the State Engineer to use his discretionary regulatory authority to stop accepting permit applications supplemental wells to drain the Ogallala Aquifer completely dry, immediately threatening the survival of Portales and Eastern New Mexico University. They literally ran dry this summer or were drastically short, with dribbling showers and faucets.

The Middle Rio Grande problem is not as “in your face,” and, therefore not a matter of front-of-mind public concern, but that may only be in Albuquerque.

In the Middle Rio Grande, the State Engineer policies of the last century governing transfer of surface water rights to wells that pump a reliably uninterrupted supply of wet water, must stop. These policies remain unchanged, unlimited by nature, and unsuitable for a sustainable water future despite the fact they don’t protect either the river or the aquifer. These transfers are damaging and further endangering the Middle Rio Grande’s future.

Invitation to Learn More and Engage

The Water Advocates for New Mexico and the Middle Rio Grande invite all to learn more and engage. Participate in our monthly workshops, respond to our calls to action, and share this news with friends, family, and colleagues today.

People at round tables in discussion

Why Should You Plan for Water?

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The Issue – Who gets water when there isn’t enough? At a simplified level, the current New Mexico “Priority Administration” regulations, if enforced when there isn’t enough water, would provide much of the water to irrigators first, leaving very thirsty cities and towns. And with desperately thirsty cities and towns, the New Mexico economy would wither, taking down those irrigators as well as virtually everyone else.

New Mexico law provides a workaround.  It allows for a community of neighbors on a common water source to create an agreement on how to “Alternatively Administer” water. If done well, such agreements could equitably balance the impact of water shortfalls and minimize the pain to the overall community.

An Opportunity –The 2023 New Mexico Legislature recognized the risks, and unanimously passed the Water Security Planning Act (WSPA, a.k.a. 72-14A-NMSA). While some encouragement would be helpful, the 2024 Legislature is poised to provide funding to vigorously implement the unanimous 2023 Act. 

WSPA provides a formal guide for regions of the state and their included communities to come together and develop programs and policies (agreements) to share water equitably, consistent with physical reality.

The Act concurrently provides a mechanism for the regions and their communities to identify current and future problems, to identify needed infrastructure projects, evaluate and prioritize such solutions, and then, with the state’s help, seek funding to implement the projects.

The Goal – Together, the programs, policies and projects will form a plan to deal with regional water in the future. To work effectively and to provide equitable results, the planning process must involve proper consideration of input from all stakeholders – at the regional level to meet region-wide constraints, and at the community level for addressing localized problems. 

A Prime Case – Let’s consider the Middle Rio Grande Region (from the Los Alamos Highway to Elephant Butte Reservoir). That area encompasses a big fraction of the state’s population and its economy. The Middle Rio Grande has an urgent problem – risk of expensive Compact violation.  Accordingly, we want to start the planning effort promptly, in parallel with the state’s rule-making process. 

We all draw from the same water source: the Rio Grande and the aquifer that lies under the river, which in turn are fed only by precipitation (rain or snow). That precipitation is highly variable. 

Over the past decade or so, the Region has been regularly using more water than it is entitled to use.  If unabated, the rapidly accruing debit (see figure on following page) will almost surely lead to lawsuits, astronomical taxpayer costs, and potentially, federal Supreme Court control over New Mexico water. And with a warming climate, more of the incoming surface water will evaporate leaving even less for use, which will drive groundwater users to increase their impact on the already-damaged aquifers. 

We (virtually all of us) have become spoiled, accustomed to having and using plenty of water. You might remember that the last two decades of the 20th century were the wettest in 2000 years, but the past two decades have been among the driest. And significant further climate-based reduction is projected. 

What’s Coming? – With grant funding, state concurrence, and nationally recognized coordinators, the Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates are convening a collaborative, broad, multi-stakeholder process to establish the well-balanced regional water resilience planning Entity that WSPA calls for. That Entity will conduct a multi-year, publicly driven and scientifically based water planning process leading to a consensus plan for program and policy agreements along with evaluated and prioritized infrastructure projects ready for legislative and other implementation funding.

For the MRG to have a viable water and economic future under changed climates, we can’t continue in a siloed race to the bottom. All interests must be represented, collaboratively participate, and be duly respectfully heard. The process must keep water at the forefront and develop a consensus on the best solutions going forward. 

And this means you.  Agua es vida.  Do your part!  

Email the Water Advocates today to say you would like to participate!


Bob Wessely has worked with and led the Water Assembly, now Water Advocates, for twenty-five years. Partnering with the Middle Rio Grande Council of Governments, the Assembly coordinated the planning process that resulted in the 2004 MRG Regional Water Plan.

In Bob’s previous 30-year career, he co-founded and served as Technical Director of SciSo, Inc., an Albuquerque software system engineering and management consulting firm supporting diverse industries nationwide. Although Bob holds a PhD in Theoretical, Solid-State Physics, at heart he is a systems engineer who enjoys finding solutions for problems important to NM and its communities, especially water.

Agua-es-Vida

2023 Year-End Report – From the President’s Desk

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Part I – Good Work Is Converging

Introduction

Together, New Mexicans made significant strides in addressing the multifaceted challenges of water management and conservation in New Mexico in 2023.

Multiple related accomplishments represent badly needed steps toward improved water governance for resilience and sustainability across New Mexico and in the Middle Rio Grande. This essay ties together highlights of the progress New Mexicans achieved together in 2023. 

Work in 2022 set the stage for 2023. The science volume of the Governor’s 50-Year Water Plan, published in 2022, showed us why we must act. It makes the case for change. Bulletin 164 — Climate Change in New Mexico Over the Next 50 Years: Impacts on Water Resources.

The New Mexico 2022 Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force Report offers a set of recommendations and strategies that is itself a remarkable consensus of diverse experts and citizens from across our state. The report, publicly released in early 2023, lists 106 specific strategies to implement 17 recommendations to face the growing water crises caused by unsustainable depletions of water resources and increasing water supply scarcity across our state. The Task Force consensus, led by State Engineer Mike Hamman as chairman, recognized that addressing these crises and stopping the ruinous overuse is key to the future of our state, nature and our natural heritage, our cultures, our economic security, and local food security.

The 2023 Legislature

2023 was the first year in my memory of the New Mexico Legislature turning its gaze to proactive governance of New Mexico’s sparse water resources. This is a badly needed change from New Mexico’s historical neglect of water governance and continued emphasis on developing water for economic growth of any kind.

The Legislature passed the landmark 2023 Water Security Planning Act without a single no vote along the way. This accomplishment satisfies one of the Water Task Force’s 106 strategies and will serve as a hub for collective action to accomplish many others. Urgently needed but woefully inadequate funding for state water management agencies was approved, along with another law to aid small water and wastewater utilities within a region to join forces to realize greater economies of scale and make better use of scarce qualified personnel. These, too, were Water Task Force implementing strategies.

Notable 2023 water governance progress was made by many diverse actors motivated by knowing the gravity of New Mexico’s water overuse and declining water supplies.  The Water Advocates and many others know we must act, feel the urgency, are taking action, and invite you to engage in this collective action in 2024.

The Roles of the Sovereign and its Citizens

Water conservation, like we have never known it, is required to stop current unsustainable uses and then further reduce our uses because our water supplies are shrinking, evaporating away before they become usable. One way or another, many uses will stop soon. If we wake up, as our future requires to survive the growing aridity long-term, we will stop pumping groundwater to exhaustion as if it were a mineral deposit to be depleted or mined for short term private profit and no regard for the post-depletion future. At the same time, rivers must not be turned into arroyos without habitat, or worse, such as the canalization of the Rio Grande downstream of Caballo Reservoir.

The State of New Mexico as water sovereign holds the legal and moral stewardship responsibilities over our water for the public health, safety, and welfare of all New Mexicans. Early in the last century, New Mexico’s future was all about water development. That era should have ended long ago but in reality, continues today. The Governor’s current proposal to allocate $500,000,000 to clean up brackish water and oil field wastewater for use at the same time the basics of water governance go without funding illustrates this mid-20th mindset has powerful adherents.

The State has not mustered the political will required to support and implement water governance improvements to survive our more arid future. Existing law provides tools to take collective action, but the state has not implemented those tools, despite the best efforts of many dedicated and well-qualified staff. The State has failed its citizens and its water management staff by not providing the modern resources needed to make the State responsive to the crises and to support its staff. Only a bipartisan effort that survives governors can create the livable future for New Mexico that growing New Mexico voices are demanding.

Current Water Agency Leadership

New Mexico State Engineer Mike Hamman’s has led remarkable progress during his two-year tenure, repeatedly demonstrating his outstanding leadership skills. He, Rolf Schmidt-Petersen, and the deep agency expertise that prevailed in asserting New Mexico’s counterclaims, created the interstate settlement in the current and still ongoing US Supreme Court litigation brought by Texas and joined by the United States against New Mexico in the Lower Rio Grande. Mr. Schmidt-Petersen retired as ISC director early in 2023.

His successor as New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission Director is Hannah Riseley-White, the best person I know to take on that heavy workload. She is qualified by a uniquely applicable graduate degree in science and public policy, and is seasoned by her skilled leadership of the ISC’s Pecos River Bureau, her recent tenure as Deputy ISC Director, and her leadership of the 2022 Water Task Force work.

Their leadership and credibility were essential to 2023 successes and will be instrumental on building on those successes to accelerate progress starting at the 2024 Legislature. We are grateful for their personal participation in the 2023 Water Advocates speakers series and workshops.

Their leadership has been and will remain essential in transforming our water agencies to do the essential jobs that New Mexico has neglected by that only the State has the power to do. That includes continuing to recruit excellent new personnel to do those jobs that only these essential agencies can do.

Water Advocates General Contributions in 2023

The Water Advocates work in 2023 was guided and shaped by our Theory of Change that former consultant and current executive council member Gillian Gonda led us to develop in 2022. It is described on our website here.

We  bring transformative change to water resources governance by:

  1. convening or participating in problem-solving, multi-stakeholder discussions and structured processes,
  2. civic engagement with the legislature, state agencies and local governments to identify problems and recommend solutions, 
  3. creating broader public awareness and knowledge of water-related facts, problems, and solutions,
  4. creating and building momentum for transformative change through our actions and civic participation with others, 
  5. incorporating facts, fairness, equity, stewardship, inclusion, and the urgency of our water crisis in everything we do.

The Water Advocates made intentional contributions to positive change in 2023. I was appointed to serve on the Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force and worked with other Water Advocates and NM Water Ambassadors to draft the bill that became the 2023 Water Security Planning Act.  The Water Advocates began thinking about implementing the 2023 Act in the Middle Rio Grande immediately after it passed.  We are leading a growing initiative in the Middle Rio Grande to do so, in parallel and in cooperation with the Interstate Stream Commission as the ISC’s leaders and dedicated water planning staff of three work to create and finalize the statewide rules and guidelines over the next fifteen months.

To reflect the Water Advocates core interests in statewide water policy and in a sustainable water future for the Middle Rio Grande, we changed our name in 2023 to Water Advocates for New Mexico and the Middle Rio Grande. Now our name is true to our interests and our mission.

Water Advocates 2023 Progress Highlights

This year-end summary touches on the breadth of Water Advocates’ activities and progress, drawing upon published blog posts and the impactful speakers series and workshops conducted last year.

1. Outreach and Public Engagement: Water Advocates’ work in 2023 demonstrated our commitment to public engagement and education. Through various outreach programs, publications, and collaborative events, our volunteers have worked tirelessly to bring water issues to the forefront of public discourse. Our efforts have raised awareness and fostered a sense of shared responsibility among the growing audience we are reaching. Special thanks to Executive Council member Brittany Gaume and part-time digital media coordinator Kelly Ore for all their work on social media, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook today!

2. Advocacy for Passage and Implementation of the 2023 Water Security Planning Act: In the legislative arena, the Water Advocates played an instrumental role in the passage of the 2023 Water Security Planning Act. This Act signifies a major step forward in establishing regional water security planning councils throughout New Mexico. The Advocates’ efforts underscored the need for legislative support and adequate funding to provide for the Act’s successful implementation and operationalization.

In the implementation arena, the Water Advocates have proposed a big-picture plan to fully implement the Water Security Planning Act within the Middle Rio Grande boundaries. The plan begins with concentrated, organized grassroots efforts in 2024. The Middle Rio Grande will rely on non-state funding in the absence of adequate 2023 Legislative appropriations to begin implementation of this remarkable legislation at the regional level, particularly in regions where curtailing overuse is urgent and self-organization is beginning.

In the absence of 2023 Legislature funding through the ISC for regions to begin to do their parts to implement the 2023 Act, the Water Advocates found but have not yet secured funding from Bernalillo County, potentially supplemented by philanthropy and other primary funders, to convene an intentional, collaborative process involving all stakeholder interests leading toward official formation of a fully representative Middle Rio Grande regional water planning entity. Stay tuned for substantial progress in 2024.

3. Addressing Water Scarcity and Conservation: Water Advocates  contributions in 2023 highlighted the acute issues of water scarcity in the Rio Grande and across New Mexico and the Water Task Force recommendations for action. The advocacy focus was not just about raising awareness but also about galvanizing action across communities and sectors. We consistently emphasized the urgency of water conservation and sustainable practices to growing audiences. Our messages are clear: conserving water resources for younger and future generations is our collective responsibility. We have much that we must do in a short period of time if we are to secure a resilient water future.

4. Water Data Dashboard Initiative: The University of New Mexico engineering faculty, in cooperation with the Water Advocates, began development of a Middle Rio Grande Water Data Dashboard prototype in 2023. The NM Water Data Initiative, involving concentrated work by five state agencies pursuant to the 2019 Water Data Act, is providing a home and additional professional resources for this grassroots project as the Water Data Initiative’s first “Use Case.”  The fully transparent dashboard, once launched, promises to offer a comprehensive and interactive visualization of Middle Rio Grande water data – where our water comes from and where it goes. It’s poised to be a game-changer in facilitating informed decision-making and enhancing transparency in water management, thus bridging gaps between data and policy implementation. Read more about the history and potential of this project.

3. Community-Driven Solutions for Water Challenges: New Mexico’s water challenges are community problems that require emphasis in reaching community-driven solutions.  This key point is a major theme of the Water Advocates’ strategy. The Water Advocates outreach highlighted the necessity of engaging diverse stakeholders to develop inclusive water governance solutions through collaboration and agreement, a New Mexico water management tradition. This collaborative approach is crucial for crafting viable solutions to New Mexico’s urgent water challenges. See what Water Advocates Board Member Laurie McCann has to say about collective action in her recent blog posts at nmwateradvocates.org. 

5. Engaging Educational Workshops and Speaker Series: Throughout 2023, the Water Advocates organized and produced seven public speakers and interactive workshops addressing critical water issues. These events have been consistently well attended.  The speakers and workshops covered a variety of topics, all related to the implementation of the Water Security Planning Act. These workshops served as a platform for knowledge exchange and community engagement and engaged over 500 individuals. Recordings of the workshops and speaker materials are available on our website. 

6. Future Vision for Water Management: Looking ahead, the Water Advocates envision a balanced and equitable water future for New Mexico. This vision is anchored in the belief that the state can adapt to climate change and effectively be a fair steward of its water resources. The recognition of the 2023 Legislature’s approval of the Water Security Planning Act marks a watershed moment in this journey, setting the stage for accelerated and successful adaptation to a future with less water.

7.  The Third Sector. Elsewhere in the world, first-world societies recognize the Civic Sector, or Non-Profit Sector, as bringing essential concepts and balance to the Government, or Public Sector, and the Business, or Private Sector. The Water Advocates in 2023 sought to organize with other New Mexico not-for-profit organizations to pursue water governance progress together, in collaboration and coordination.  It’s working. The League of Women Voters, New Mexico Wild, 350NM, and NM Interfaith Power and Light sponsored our 2023 workshops. Other non-profits are represented on the Water Advocates Board or have expressed their interest in joining forces to do our parts, now and in the future.

In collaboration with the Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy, a non-profit that is the only organized New Mexico voice for water required for the economic future of eastern New Mexico communities for whom the Ogallala Aquifer is the sole source of water supply, the Water Advocates have proposed six line-item appropriations that are essential to New Mexico’s water future. 

Several of these amplify water management agency and water science agency requests for fundamental building blocks, including agency staffing, Water Data Act implementation acceleration, and acceleration of the Aquifer Mapping Program. Others, including state funding for ISC grants to appropriately support water planning regions self-organization, were not requested by the agencies, or are not expected to be included in the Governor’s forthcoming proposed budget. Please review the list here and call YOUR legislator to support this funding.

8. Water Advocates finances.  We have not emphasized donations, but fundraising is key to our future. Nonetheless, we have recently received several generous unsolicited donations, including from our Board members, and many modest ones. 

Previously, the Water Advocates existed on previously saved funds from long ago and spent almost nothing.  We decided to begin our current work by expending those funds. We sought and received a grant from the Thornburg Foundation that was completely expended in 2023 to deliver workshops about the ingredients of collaborative success to Basin Study participants.

With a higher profile, we increased the number of our active volunteers and began to receive new donations. We have our first annual budget for the current fiscal year since I have been involved starting about seven years ago. Our budget currently depends completely on donations as we secure other income to help meet our growing but modest annual expenses and fund our priority initiatives. 

We are very grateful for the many generous donations we have received to pay for our operating expenses this year. Thank you for considering the Water Advocates and our vital work to push for public recognition of our water problems and collaboration to address them, thereby contributing to New Mexico’s future in your giving. We appreciate you making a donation today!

In conclusion, the Water Advocates’ approach in 2023 has been a blend of advocacy, education, and collaboration supported by modern information technology. Our work this year has pushed for a solid foundation for sustainable water management and conservation in New Mexico. We have demonstrated a strong commitment to a resilient and balanced water future for New Mexico and the Middle Rio Grande. As we move forward, the lessons learned, and successes achieved in 2023 will inform and inspire our efforts to create a secure water future for New Mexico that doesn’t now exist.

Stay tuned for Part 2 as I look ahead to “Co-Creation of a Sustainable Water Future for the Middle Rio Grande” in the Water Advocates January News – Coming January 4, 2024.

Updated 10:30 am, Dec 30, 2023


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Screenshot 2023-07-05 at 11.24.23 AM

Argentine Fulbright Scholars Recommendations for New Mexico’s Water Future

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Twenty of Argentina’s best and brightest young scholars spent three weeks at UNM in June evaluating two water case studies through the Peace Engineering framework, which seeks the reduction of violence through policymaking. Violence in the water problem context is broadly construed to include harm to each other, water institutions, public health, equity and diversity, and cultural values, for example.  Their theme was Peace through Policymaking.  One of their case studies was the Middle Rio Grande. The other was in Argentina.  

Their insightful policy recommendations focused on sustainability, inclusion, equity, research, alliances, water governance reform, and public education and incentives.  They characterized New Mexico’s water problems as community problems that require community-driven solutions through collective action.  Politicians and decisionmakers roles are to measure and govern.  Urban and suburban communities must be aware of and reduce excessive water consumption.  Rural communities must transition to low consumption crops and efficient irrigation. They outlined a public campaign with this slogan:  Water is Life! Do your Part.  The Argentine Fulbright scholars recommendations are summarized in the slides they presented on June 23, their last day in New Mexico.   Their report and a short campaign video will be available in the coming months.  

The 2023 cohort of Argentine Fulbright scholars was selected from over 400 applicants that met academic and achievement criteria. All graduated recently and are practicing professionals in public policy, law, or are studying for advanced degrees. 

UNM Engineering and Global Programs faculty and administrators invited Norm Gaume, a retired New Mexico water resources expert and President of the Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates, to present the Middle Rio Grande Case Study. He used these slides to introduce the Argentine scholars’ presentation of their recommendations on the final day of their three weeks in New Mexico. The Argentine scholars really engaged in the Middle Rio Grande case study, including asking questions with elected and appointed officials and people they met. They concluded that New Mexico’s water governance is not rational.  Their recommendations are worthy of our careful consideration.  

Early on, the scholars took note of the scientific poll of New Mexico voters that had been commissioned by the Thornburg Foundation and the Water Foundation.

“In late 2021, Research and Polling, Inc., conducted 706 phone interviews of registered voters from a representative cross-section of rural, suburban, and urban parts of [New Mexico].” The voters were asked to name the state’s top problems. Very few mentioned water. They were then asked, ‘what about water?’ A vast majority agreed that water is a major New Mexico problem and requires urgent attention because “drought and lack of water supplies threaten our way of life in New Mexico.”  

The scholars asked the same questions of the officials they met in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.None of the officials named water as a major New Mexico problem, yet all agreed, after being reminded by the second question, that it is. All said they didn’t know much about water and that someone else was working on it.  

The Argentine scholars worked hard to understand the water problems we face in the Middle Rio Grande. Initially, they recommended economic approaches, including escalating charges for water and economic disincentives for excessive uses.  As they began to understand New Mexican’s deep cultural water values and the conflicts between those values and water as a market commodity, they changed their focus to education and incentives. Their campaign slogan captures this focus: “Water is Life!  Do your Part.” 

The Water Advocates provided the Argentine scholar’s case study recommendations and the Peace Engineering framing to Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) water planning staff. We hope ISC will consider the perspective of brilliant young Latino scholars–who looked at our systemic problems with fresh eyes and trained policy-oriented minds, unencumbered by our biases—as the ISC puts in place the rules and guidelines for the new statewide regional and community water resilience planning program. 

Enforcement against illegal water uses was the only punitive approach the scholars recommended. They couldn’t believe that in New Mexico, the most arid of the 50 states, we do nothing about consistent illegal water use. They believe that is not rational. Of course, they are correct.  

We will do our part, together, asking the New Mexico Legislature, our Governor, and our state water management agencies to step up and do theirs. In the words of the Argentineans, our governments’ part is to “measure and rule this problem.” Progress is incremental. Let’s work together to respectfully demand the 2024 Legislature authorize and fund the next, substantive increments.  

wa839a-VotersImage

Voters across New Mexico are concerned about water resources.

Polling shows 75 percent of likely voters agree or strongly agree that we need to act now to ensure that future generations have an adequate water supply. Two thirds of voters agree or strongly agree that the New Mexico Government needs to modernize and dedicate more funding towards the management of our water quality and water supply. The topline results report of November 2021 New Mexico Water Survey by Research and Polling, Inc. can be viewed here.