Water Summit 1 Summary of Roundtable Discussion
BALANCING USES OF WATER
Key Question: How do we balance traditional farming, ranching and cultural uses of water with growing urban economies and demands? Reese Fullerton, NM Consensus Council Rita Trujillo, AQB, NMED
Facilitators:
Key Factors: Limited Supply Growth Who Attended: UNM – Water Resources Rural Water Water Dialogue Amigos Bravos – Traditional Water Users/Adv. State Engineer Albuquerque SEO 1000 Friends/Water Water Planning Hydrologist Water Resource Person Bureau of Reclamation (Elephant Butte, El Paso, Texas) Mining Industry/Water Person UNM – Commissioner/Regulatory/Water – Planning Bureau of Reclamation/Storage & Release Environmental Science/UNM/Army Acequias Association/Velarde
Issues: Regional Water Planning – Goal – What Is In The Public Welfare State Water Plan – Community Desires + State Plan SEO Required To Consider Public Welfare – What Does This Mean Identify: What’s Working? What’s Not Working? How/What Can We Do Differently? Action Steps
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Issues/Concerns: 1. Acequias not formally protected, water rights treated like property rights. 2. Legal institutions/system No hierarchy of beneficial analysis Must be used beneficially Variations through out the state 3. Who is responsible for stopping water going from rural to urban if “we” want to maintain rural uses. 4. How can we factor in non-monetary values 5. Values – such as green space, traditional values, how to balance with urbanbalance between differing values, need for mechanisms 6. Conservation – incentive for urban, no incentive for agricultural – how to promote conservation in agriculture 7. Political and cultural dynamics are evidenced in water issues , also legal, historical, political 8. We don’t know how much water there is and we don’t know how much we are using 9. Who owns the water. How much and where is it going 10. In the absence of plentiful water, grower could switch to a different crop that uses less water 11. What is wasted water? 12. Issues are not the same throughout the state but they can be linked – they affect each other 13. Allocations subject to state law What is public welfare How (who) is it determined 14. Needs to be an integrated water management system that includes administration and community 15. For some traditional groups, water rights are all that is left ISSUE A: Find A Way To Balance Competing Values ACTION STEPS: Promulgate rules and regulations or guidelines to define public welfare – plan a process that is truly participatory Encourage SEO water transfer process to have public welfare initiative – presentations before SEO would have to include content about public welfare GROUP STATEMENT OF ISSUE A: Acequia’s water rights treated like property right; acequias themselves not formally protected i.e. water rights can be sold so the acequia system could end up with no water. How do we factor in non-monetary values of water : spiritual, cultural, esthetic Need structure for incentive for conservation of water in agriculture.
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Scale issues: change in scale of urban entity changes the weight and balance of power in water planning decisions. Political/legal/economic structures are frequently disjointed/disconnected with historical/moral/cultural plane. Don’t know how much water there is or really how much we are using. Change crop mix to better suit climate. What is “wasted water”; what is “beneficial use”? Different values/issues among different social groups. What is public welfare: who has power to determine/define public welfare? Need to integrate water management in a system that includes communities. CONSOLIDATE ISSUES: Identify stakeholder role Adopt a typical stakeholder Need a means of verbalizing, including quantifying historical, cultural, spiritual, esthetic values of water within definition of public welfare Need a “public welfare” community values “Board” to represent public welfare as counterbalance to simple market allocation Define Public Welfare – list all values of public welfare that go into definition How to implement a plan to safeguard public welfare Use regional water planning to set these priorities SEO sees lots of dissent even given very thorough, careful process. So far he has only included water quality as defensible criteria for public welfare CONCRETE ACTION STEPS: Promulgate rules/regulations (at least guidelines) to define and address “public welfare” Plan process of how that will happen – assumes widespread public involvement process SEO has new method of facilitated agreements as part of hearing transfers Use economic development funds to improve rural communities so people stay there and don’t sell water rights – maybe have industry moving to rural towns where the water is instead of the other way around Encourage public welfare evidence in presenting cases in OSE administrative hearings on water transfers. Re: Regulations on state hearings NMSA 72-2-17, B, 6. Findings of fact shall be based solely on record presented at the hearing. If State Engineer doesn’t hear anything regarding public welfare he can’t render any decisions about it! ISSUE B: Broad Based Education On Water, It’s Transfers, Etc. And Define What Water Resources Exist ACTIONS STEP: Regional water planning needs funding for an educational campaign
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ISSUE C: How To Balance The Needs Of Agriculture And Urban Areas GROUP STATEMENT OF ISSUE C: STAKEHOLDERS 1. OSE 2. Farming community 3. City planners 4. Water rights holders 5. Soil and water conservation districts 6. Developers WHAT ARE WE DOING NOW? 1 . No metering of canals or wells 2. Use or lose law 3. Many disincentives to conserve water 4. Flood irrigation is wasteful 5. Can’t gain any monetary benefit from conserving water WHAT’S WORKING? 1. Field leveling helps prevent excessive runoff 2. In cities, metering and a tiered rate structure help promote conservation WHAT’S NOT WORKING? 1. Use or lose nature of state water law 2. Economic incentives 3. No possibility of a tiered rate structure ACTION STEPS: Create a water-banking arrangement to encourage conservation Meter wells and ditches/canals to measure use and fund the metering with a grant Allow limited water marketing so that conserved water can be sold – gives a monetary incentive to conserve Pass legislation that deems water conservation as a beneficial use Explore markets for crops that are more suited to the regional climate and Encourage the use of these crops through incentives
ISSUE D: Quantify Water Resource ACTION STEPS: Institute state wide use requirement Educational process – why? Benefits – how?
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