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In order to get new water, Albuquerque – or any other municipality or
developer or farmer in the state – has to get rights to water and have
transfer of those rights approved by the Office of the State Engineer
(OSE). In the 1990s, based on the developments already platted (permitted),
Albuquerque developers would have had to have gotten every
single water right in existence in the Middle Río Grande (MRG). That
means that every current holder of a water right in the MRG – with
the exception of the Pueblo nations - would have had to give up their
water to support permitted future development.
Agriculture – including small family farms such as those in the South
Valley – would disappear. So likely would large sections of the Río
Grande Bosque and probably much of the river itself.
This scenario doesn’t include new developments like Mesa del Sol
(90,000 people) or the proposed “Rio West” on the Atrisco land grant
west of Rio Rancho, or scores of smaller developments
scattered across the area that are in various
stages of planning.
The situation isn’t peculiar to Albuquerque. A few
years ago, a former State Engineer said that the state
had promised four times more water rights (“paper
water”) for housing, businesses, and agriculture than
there was real water (“wet water”) to meet the needs.
Meanwhile, the OSE continues to grant water transfer
permits despite the fact that only about 20% of the
state’s water rights have been settled in court, and the
OSE doesn’t fully know who legally owns water rights.
Albuquerque believes it has a card up its sleeve: the San Juan-Chama
(SJC) “drinking water project.” Never mind that the original agreement
allowing New Mexico to get just over 100,000 acre feet per year
(afy) of San Juan River water was so Albuquerque’s share (just over
48,000afy) could offset over-pumping of the underground aquifer.
Since Albuquerque decided that it wanted to use its SJC water for
drinking, the Office of the State Engineer agreed to let the city take an
additional 47,000afy of “native” Río Grande water to use for recharging
the aquifer.
The catch: the City has to get its per capita daily consumption down
to 150 gallons per day (gpd), and has to replace the native water it
diverts with an equal amount of treated city wastewater 16 miles
downstream. The actual amount of native Río Grande water diverted
depends on how much water is flowing in the river (which may not be
much in a prolonged drought or the impact of climate change).
Meeting the conservation target
Albuquerque has come a long way from the days when it used over
250 gpd. Since implementing its conservation program in 1995,
Albuquerque’s water use is down to 165 gpd, according to the
Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (WUA).
However, people in the city still haven’t completely gotten the message
on conserving water. During Albuquerque’s driest winter in over a century,
2005-6, residents actually increased water consumption by 12%
over the previous winter. On a more positive note, Albuquerque use
dropped 4.2% from the previous year over the course of the first 9
months of 2006 – due almost entirely to the wettest summer on record.
Still, in 2006 the WUA authority said that they planned on reducing
city water use by 10% over the next 10 years. This means that
Albuquerque wouldn’t meet its mandated 150gpd until 2016. What
will have been point of the “drinking water project” – recharging the
aquifer and building the basis for a sustainable water future?
The happiest mayor in the world
In December 2006, Albuquerque won a World Leadership Award, an
international prize that honors cities showing “exceptional imagination,
foresight or resilience in dealing with major challenges.” Cities
nominated themselves; Albuquerque won for its efforts “to ensure a
water future.”
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