Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 25, 2000
Contact: Tom Turney
State Engineer
(505) 827-6091

SANTA FE - New Mexico State Engineer Thomas C. Turney today announced new guidelines for permitting water rights in the area that is now defined as the Middle Rio Grande Administrative Area (MRGAA). The new system will protect existing water rights, ensure New Mexico's compliance with the Rio Grande Compact, extend the life of the aquifer, minimize land subsidence, and better manage new development and economic expansion.

The MRGAA extends from Cochiti to the northeast corner of Socorro County, and includes Bernalillo, Rio Rancho, Corrales, Albuquerque and Belen.

In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for people to acquire wet water rights. Many people simply do not want to see the reduction of irrigation in the Middle Valley. The new guidelines require a pumping limitation. Requiring a pumping limit based on actual water rights that a permittee actually holds provides certainty that the applicant will be able to have water rights when they are needed in the future.

"Ultimately, for every gallon of water pumped out of the ground, there is one less gallon flowing in the Rio Grande, "Turney said. "If a community wants to pump 1,000 acre-feet of ground water, then the flow in the Rio Grande will be ultimately diminished by 1000 acre-feet."

"Requiring water rights up front will allow development to occur more responsibly," said Turney. "These guidelines emphasize this generation's responsibility for future generations of New Mexicans. To make the most out of the finite amount of water we have in New Mexico and to manage our water needs in years to come, we are asking for greater accountability from water users."

Another new guideline is the designation of a Critical Management Area (CMA). A CMA is an area with excessive water level decline rates. Under the new guidelines a CMA includes areas where the decline of the water table is greater than 2.5 feet per year.

Copies of the new guidelines are available from the Office of the State Engineer web site at www.seo.state.nm.us.

The State Engineer has general supervision of the waters of the State. Under the New Mexico Constitution water rights are protected, with the priority of time giving the better right in times of drought. The Spanish brought this system called an appropriate doctrine, when they settled New Mexico over 400 years ago.