Sept 28
Happy Friday, water geeks:
A few years back, the state embarked on an ambitious plan to get communities involved in drafting their own water plans in 16 regions. Each one has entailed hours of public hearings, hair pulling, teeth grinding and haggling.
According to the Office of State Engineer: “Water plans must include recommended alternatives for regional water resources management, water conservation, protection of the regional public welfare, and time lines for implementing the water plan.”
Taos is the last of 16 regions to complete theirs which includes a draft “public welfare statement.” And it appears to be the only one which has added strong wording regarding water and “public welfare.” Basically, it tries to ensure water transfers don’t hurt the long-standing communal uses and quality of water in the Taos Valley. Word has it there was a lot of pressure on the group to drop the public welfare statement. I’ve not followed this much, but I understand the “public welfare” aspect of the plan has created quite a controversy up north.
The draft Public Welfare portion of the plan doesn’t play nice with the state. In part it reads, “ the demand for more meaningful, locally informed, application of the public welfare criterion in New Mexico’s water law stems from the widespread perception that the existing water rights decisionmaking process has failed to give meaning and effect to the public welfare criterion since that criterion was pointedly added to New Mexico state water law by the Legislature in 1985.”
And furthermore, “To begin with, historic State Engineer rulings have acknowledged that the Office of the State Engineer is ill-equipped to assess the local values, concerns, and priorities that make up the local public welfare.” Conci Bokum of 1000 Friends of New Mexico wrote about the dilemma of the public welfare statement. Try this link to reach the html version It will be interesting to see if the final Taos Regional Water Plan contains the public welfare statement. Knowing some of the folks involved, I’m betting it will. And I’m also willing to bet they’ll be holding everyone who wants to transer water accountable to fulfilling the plan.
In other news, check out this report from the Urban Land Institute regarding “Smart Growth.” “In a comprehensive review of dozens of studies, published by the Urban Land Institute, the researchers conclude that urban development is both a key contributor to climate change and an essential factor in combating it.” The report goes on to indicate more fuel efficient cars, cleaner fuel and less driving are the factors to reducing greenhouse gases from urban areas.
Have an awesome fall weekend!
