NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A new report predicts New Mexico will have 25 percent less water in our rivers and streams by 2050 because of climate change. A state law enacted nearly 20 years ago has aimed to keep water flowing in the state, and this week officials called for changes to make sure New Mexico rivers and streams don’t run dry.
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“New Mexico is about to confront the effects of climate change head-on. We’re already seeing those impacts in terms of forest fires and post-fire flooding,” said Hannah Riseley-White, director of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, “that makes the Strategic Water Reserve an increasingly critical tool for New Mexico.”
The Strategic Water Reserve was created in 2005—it allows the state to purchase or lease water rights to support river and stream flow in the state for two reasons: “One: compliance with interstate compacts and the other is to support river flows for species purposes, threatened or endangered species primarily,” said Riseley-White.
This week, the Interstate Stream Commission and conservation groups told state lawmakers at the Water and Natural Resources Interim Committee how they could strengthen this law.
“The Strategic Water Reserve is a really unique tool that it does a lot of things at once. It incentivizes water conservation, it prevents water shortages, it protects our wildlife, and it avoids really costly litigation that could happen if we fall behind on some of those obligations,” saidAnjali Bean, senior policy advisor for Western Resource Advocates, “It has also been chronically underfunded.”
The main ask is to get permanent stable funding for the reserve. Advocates also want to clean up the law to cut down on red tape: “The rules that the state has to follow in order to acquire this water is much more complicated than other types of purchases that they lose out to other folks who are buying and selling water,” Bean said. They also want to add ‘recreational use’ to the list of purposes to buy and lease water rights for the state.
Senator Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) agreed with the request for funding and urged the groups to get the governor’s office on board. “There’s just really no excuse for us not funding this. So, I just implore you to have this be part of the administration’s ask, otherwise, it just feels like it’s all coming from us and we’re not working together and we don’t get it and we forget about it,” Sen. Stewart said.
The Interstate Stream Commission is also gearing up for a 20-year review of the Strategic Water Reserve to see how well it’s working.
