{"id":41761,"date":"2023-06-06T14:58:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T21:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=41761"},"modified":"2023-06-14T13:42:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T20:42:02","slug":"texas-isnt-stealing-your-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/texas-isnt-stealing-your-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Isn\u2019t Stealing Your Water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In late May, flows on the Rio Grande through Albuquerque were almost 10 times what they were last year. Snowmelt is coming down the river, and into the ditches and canals of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. Last Friday, we aired my conversation with MRGCD\u2019s chief engineer and CEO, Jason Casuga, about irrigation, infrastructure, and the Rio Grande Compact<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat a difference a year makes. I think anybody in the Middle Valley in Albuquerque can take a stroll to the river and just see that we’re in many instances bursting at the seams,\u201d Casuga said. \u201cI think it speaks to the crazy patterns that we see, one extreme to another.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casuga and I also talked a little about the Rio Grande Compact. As he said in the interview, the water flowing through the Middle Rio Grande Valley isn\u2019t all headed to Texas, as some people imagine. That water is also flowing to New Mexicans who live below Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Middle Valley\u2019s requirement for the compact is [delivery of water to] Elephant Butte,\u201d he said. \u201cDoes some of that water go to Texas? Absolutely, it does. But the first users of water that comes out of Elephant Butte are New Mexicans. It\u2019s Do\u00f1a Ana County, it’s Hatch, it\u2019s that Mesilla area.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as an aside, it\u2019s part of my job to be active on social media. That means I get a fair amount of not-always- <\/s>helpful or kind or truthful feedback, including comments on posts about the Rio Grande along the lines of, \u201cWhy is all our water going to Texas?\u201d or, \u201cTop off our reservoirs before we send it to Texas.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I love friendly rivalries, there\u2019s a flippancy toward water rights and interstate river compacts that doesn\u2019t serve anyone\u2014least of all New Mexicans, who fully expect Colorado to comply with the Rio Grande Compact. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having covered environmental issues in New Mexico for more than two decades, I\u2019ve spent a lot of time trying to find new ways to report on the same things, including the compact. I\u2019m pretty sure anyone nerdy enough to subscribe to this newsletter already knows a lot of what follows. But here are a few key points to keep in mind: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The Rio Grande Compact, signed in 1939, divvies up water between Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. The amount of water each state must send downstream is based on how much water is in the river that year: Colorado\u2019s water deliveries to New Mexico are based on the Lobatos stream gage on the Rio Grande near the state line, and New Mexico\u2019s deliveries to Texas are based on the sum of the measured flow below Elephant Butte dam for the year and the change in storage within the reservoir.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is different, by the way, from how water is apportioned under the Colorado River Compact. Under that compact, the Upper Basin states must deliver 7.5-million-acre feet of water to the Lower Basin states, regardless of what\u2019s actually happening between the banks of the river.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 All the water within the Rio Grande \u201cbelongs\u201d to someone\u2014tribes, farmers, cities, and other water rights holders\u2014and the river is highly managed. Water is moved from reservoir to reservoir in careful ways to comply with the compact and meet downstream obligations. People in New Mexico and Texas benefit from the compact and its enforcement.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(If you want to talk about the river itself and its ecosystem, that\u2019s another story. In New Mexico, water rights only \u201cbelong\u201d to people, none are just for the river itself…<\/a>)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this is to say: States can\u2019t hoard\u2014or steal\u2014water. And if another state thinks that\u2019s happening? Well, that\u2019s how we end up with Supreme Court lawsuits and millions of dollars in attorneys\u2019 fees…  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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