NM Plans Major Adjudication Proceedings
Over 20 years after Arizona commenced its adjudication proceedings, its neighboring state, New Mexico, is taking steps to begin adjudicating water claims on the Middle Rio Grande.

The amount of river water that the city of Albuquerque, thousands of farmers and six pueblos each use as it flows through Middle Rio Grande Valley is unknown, although total depletions are about 405,000 acre feet per year. Drought and population growth add to the urgency to settle water claims on the Middle Rio Grande. Concerns about endangered species and water deliveries to Texas further urge action.

Most water rights in New Mexico have not been adjudicated. The need to adjudicate has become especially apparent in the Middle Rio Grand Valley where rapid population growth is straining water supplies, and water right disputes threaten to lead to legal actions. Thousands of water rights in the area cannot be enforced until they are adjudicated by the courts.

Indian water rights along the Middle Rio Grand are the oldest and most senior rights, held by six pueblos: Isleta, Santa Domingo, Cochiti, San Felipe, Santa Ana and Sandia. Settling these claims is key to quantifying all the other rights in the Middle Rio Grande. The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District is the other dominant right holder in the area providing water to thousands of farmers and other users.

Three bills are before the New Mexico Legislature that would help get the adjudication process off the ground. One bill would establish a “pre-adjudication bureau” to do some preliminary work before the actual adjudication. Another bill would appropriate $7 million to conduct a hydrographic survey needed for the process; the third bill sets aside $30 million for adjudication proceedings.

Meanwhile Arizona’s adjudication, in process now for over 20 years, is being criticized that it is not working. At a fall University of Arizona College of Law water conference, Joseph M. Feller, Arizona State University law professor, delivered a paper titled. “The Adjudication That Ate Arizona Water Law.”
In other New Mexico water news, Governor Bill Richardson declared 2007 as the “Year of Water.” His $100-million package of water initiatives sets an ambitious water agenda unique among arid, drought-weary western states.

Water Bills Proposed for Legislative Session
A number of water-related bills are making the rounds in the Arizona Legislature. House Bill 2693 essentially allows cities and counties outside Active Management Areas to require a determination by Arizona Department of Water Resources that a proposed subdivision has an adequate water supply before approval. Senate Bill 1575 contains the same provisions as HB 2693 except with an amendment that a unanimous vote by the county board of supervisors is required to adopt local water adequacy requirements.
Similar legislation seeking to empower rural areas to enforce adequate water supplies have been introduced in the Legislature over the past four years without success.

HB2692 creates a Water Supply Development fund to provide financial assistance to rural water providers to develop resources and infrastructure. Funds would be limited to water providers located within a county or municipality that has adopted adequate water supply requirements for new subdivisions. Enactment of the loan fund bill is contingent upon enactment of the adequacy bill.

Other water-related bills heard in committee include: HB2494, establishing a grant fund to encourage water conservation projects in schools and HB2496, encouraging partnerships between utilities and schools for supporting water-or-energy conservation programs.

Water bills not heard in committee include: HB2534, requiring cities to meet a 25 percent water use reduction by 2020; HB2582, requiring new homes larger than 2,500 sq. ft. to include water harvesting equipment; and SB1113, requiring new homes to have low-water use yards.

Options Discussed to Protect Upper Verde River
Lively discussion continues in the Prescott area over ideas for increasing recharge into the Big Chino aquifer as a strategy to protect the flow of the Upper Verde River. American Rivers, a conservation organization, listed the Verde River as the 10th most endangered U.S. river last year due to plans for a 30-mile pipeline to draw groundwater from the Big Chino aquifer to deliver to rapidly-developing Prescott and Prescott Valley. Studies indicate that the aquifer provides about 80 percent of the base flow into the upper Verde River.
Pumping plans are proceeding, with Prescott having purchased a Big Chino ranch and hired consultants to design a pipeline. As much as 8,700 acre-feet could be pumped from the Big Chino aquifer to deliver to the Little Chino aquifer.

To protect the flow of the river, the Upper Verde River Watershed Protection Coalition was formed, made up of Yavapai County and the municipalities of Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley and Dewey-Humboldt.

Proposals that the coalition are considering for supplementing Upper Verde groundwater include buying and protecting land areas recharging into the aquifer, water conservation projects, recharging the two aquifers with wastewater, reducing or removing vegetation in areas overgrown due to a policy of wildfire suppression, constructing flood detention structures and monitoring groundwater use.

Some have questioned the stated intent of the coalition, to protect the flows of the Upper Verde River, saying it should be doing more to reduce demand for Big Chino groundwater.

The coalition seeks a total of $200,000 from its members to use during the first year to analyze the project.
Other responses to the pipeline include a threat of a law suit by the Center for Biological Diversity to halt the project. Also proposed is that council write up a mitigation plan as part of an environmental impact study and request an “incidental taking” permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. An applicant would then be allowed to create habitat conservation plans to reduce the project’s impact on wildlife.