This interactive workshop had a panel of three former members of the 2022 State Engineer’s Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force, Phil King, Ladona Clayton, and Norm Gaume. The panelists are working together currently as NM Water Ambassadors. The Water Ambassadors joint purpose is to advocate for all the water task force recommendations. The panelists each presented their highest priorities for water funding and policy, and why. The joint funding requests to the 2024 Legislature of Dr. Ladona Clayton, Executive Director, Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy, and Norm Gaume, P.E. (ret), President, Water Advocates, are available here.
Our state is facing a catastrophic water crisis and is currently failing to meet a critical legal obligation under the Rio Grande Compact. New Mexico's cumulative water delivery debt to Elephant Butte Reservoir has reached 167,600 acre-feet—perilously close to the Compact’s 200,000 acre-foot legal limit. We are operating on borrowed time and borrowed water and […]