Commissioners want state to use current water data

• State engineer says he could order meters installed on every irrigation ditch

Using historical river flow data has no relevance to what’s occurring on the Rio Ruidoso today, Lincoln County commissioners contended Tuesday in a face-to-face with New Mexico State Engineer Tom Blaine.

They pressed for current data to be considered in future water decisions, but weren’t interested in seeing owners of irrigation ditches being forced to pay for the equipment to meter their withdrawals.

What brought Blaine to the meeting initially was a commission vote in middle August to file a protest of a water rights transfer requested by the village of Ruidoso. With that in mind, the village was represented at the meeting Tuesday by Mayor Tom Battin, Community Development Director Greg Cory and Eric Boyda, village water rights/conservationist specialist.  However, they never spoke.

Reviewing the situation, County Manager Nita Taylor said during a previous special meeting, commissioners rescinded the motion for a protest.

“The reconsideration was due to an awareness that the notice itself was not correct,” Taylor said. The application was for continuation of a temporary permit that would expire at the end of the current water rights accounting period for the village of Oct. 31, 2016. But commissioners continue to be concerned about a number of issues surrounding the process for handling water rights transfers, she said. They would like to see a re-evaluation of flow conditions and the possible use of meters at all points of diversion, she said. To talk about those things, Blaine was invited to attend the September commission meeting and he brought along Andy Morley, District 3 supervisor based in Roswell.

Tom Stewart said the biggest concern he’s heard is the accumulative effect of “a domestic well here and a water right (transfer) there.”

“In our little corner of the world, it matters a lot and all these things add up,” he said.

“In general, there are four things I have to consider by statute before we act on any application,” Blaine, who was appointed by the governor in December 2014,  said.  “Those four things are water available, will the approval of the application cause impairment, is it contrary to the public welfare of the state and is it contrary to the conservation of water for the state.

“When we move water on a stream system, there always is an opportunity to impact downstream users. With some of the leases approved, we moved water (rights) upstream, which provided an opportunity, in particular, for the village, to have access to water that may not have been available downstream in the move from location. The condition of approval applied to that application required that certain flow (measurements) be maintained and be monitored at downstream locations. We conditioned permits to keep the stream system in balance. There is much consideration and much deliberation given to any application.”

He lauded his “high quality” staff of hydrologists and engineers, calling them some of the best in the state with decades of experience.

“I really feel we do a rigorous analysis of any application prior to its approval,” he said.

Stewart said if the streambed east of Ruidoso is dry, “I don’t see how you can approve any of those (transfers upstream). It just seems we’re in a dire condition.”

Blaine said his staff looks at the historical flow of a particular location. They are not able to analyze minute by minute appropriations for balance. For the Ruidoso application, the gauge is located at what is called the Hollywood station near the boundary between the village of Ruidoso and the city of Ruidoso Downs and upstream from the regional wastewater treatment plant.

The flow must reach a designated minimum amount for the village to exercise the water right water, “So we only allow diversion under certain flows and there are limits on what can be taken,” he said.

Responding to more questions from Stewart, Blaine explained that the area is considered a closed basin in reference to ground water and no new appropriations can be approved.

When Blaine said the flow data used by his office covers a period of several decades, Commissioner Elaine Allen told him that because of population growth, more demands on the water and less rain and snow fall, “We have not nearly the opportunity to replace the water as we did decades ago. Could there be a reconsideration of the figures on which you base your calculations? It used to rain every day at 3 p.m. (during the summer), but not anymore.

“What happens if (the drought) continues and there is no water in the river downstream? What happens if it never shows up again?”

Blaine said in many places throughout New Mexico, a stream will disappear underground and reappear downstream.

“Even in the Rio Grande, stretches of the river go dry,” he said. Historically, parts of the Rio Ruidoso go dry and the water flows into the streambed, but reappears at a point downstream, he said. “We ensure there is no greater reduction in flow even at those points downstream from the dry stretch than have been historically.”

Allen pressed again for reconsideration of the flow data based on the population growth and the needs of residents in the valley east of Ruidoso Downs.

Blaine said water should not be used as a hammer to stop growth. The system is self-governing in that if it rains less, less water flow passes by the gauge and restrictions go into effect above it.

“If Ruidoso continues to grow, water has to come from somewhere,” he said. “I encourage this governing body to work with the other governing bodies in this county, villages and cities and maybe, it is time to look at regionalization and develop a plan that allows for municipal growth, but also the protection of the cultural assets you have in this county.”

Noting that Los Angeles grew on the back of water previously used for agriculture, Blaine said the population of New Mexico could double by reducing the amount of agricultural water by 10 percent.

“Or just take it all, but that’s not my vision of New Mexico,” he said. “We need to be able to plan the use of our water and there has to be a regionalization that accounts for cultural impacts of taking water from ag and the economic impacts of us not growing (food).”

Commissioner Dallas Draper said he sees water becoming the new “oil” worldwide.

Commission Chairman Preston Stone told Blaine, “We need to monitor the water we have today, not historical data. I want more accountability and more precision out of your staff.”

“I can issue a metering order within the next two weeks that requires every acequia (irrigation ditch) to put a meter on their diversions, if that’s what this governing body would like,” Blaine said. “The cost would be little over $2 million and state doesn’t have it.”

The expense would fall on the ditch owners, he said.

“That probably is the best way to manage water in short supply years,” he said. “All the municipal and industrial uses already are metered. If you really want to quantify and see where all the water is going, that’s the best way to do.”

“We have relied on stream gauges to give information and allow us to make decisions,” Blaine said. “They give the kind of precision you’re suggesting.”

“As a land owner in the valley with two acequias, if you put monitors on them, there isn’t one down there that gets same amount of water it did 30 years ago,” Commissioner Lynn Willard said. “It is torrential river. When it rains or snows, we have water. When it doesn’t, we don’t.

“There’s nothing magic by putting in a meter. It would be a waste of $2 million, because there is not enough water to even measure 70 percent of the time. We all work hard to keep the water running, but it is not what it used to be. Ruidoso has its needs as part of economic development, but senior (water) rights are still senior rights.”

Older or senior water rights have a higher standing in the courts and in case of a call on rights in a water emergency, would be the last taken.