Recent news shocked and depressed local observers of development, affordable housing and regional water issues.
The revolving leadership door at the city’s Planning and Land Use Department continues under the Alan Webber administration with the announced resignation of Director Jason Kluck. Builders, architects and developers pinned a lot of hope on Kluck’s quiet competence and expected continuity.
But it was Alexandra Ladd’s departure from the Office of Affordable Housing that sent the biggest shock waves. Serving under three mayors, she was the epitome of competence and continuity.
There will be plenty to say about that in the future, but the following is an attempt to unpack the surprising decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a water-sharing agreement hammered out over the past decade between New Mexico and Texas, with Colorado’s acquiescence, over the Rio Grande Compact.
The 800-pound gorilla in the compact potentially affects the popular recreation area behind Elephant Butte Dam. At least that’s what most New Mexicans perceive its purpose to be. Recreation was irrelevant to the decision authored by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The surprise was the makeup of the 5-4 decision. The court’s trio of liberal judges brought along conservatives Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts. Huh? How could progressive New Mexico be forsaken by philosophical allies?
Legally, Texas water begins 125 miles into New Mexico at the dam’s spillway. Construction on the dam began in 1911 by the federal Bureau of Reclamation for the purpose of creating two agricultural irrigation districts — one in the Rincon and Mesilla valleys of New Mexico and one for El Paso.
New Mexico was allotted 53% of dammed water for diversion to flood fields for crops. In wet years, that’s hundreds of thousands of acre-feet. In September 2018, there was only 45,000 acre-feet behind the dam. Treaty obligations to Mexico guarantee 60,000 acre-feet.
Fewer than 8,000 farms are in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District. Eighty percent of crops grown are alfalfa, pecans and cotton. Hatch also gets a portion for our beloved green chile.
The farms, with pledged water, are economic powerhouses for the region. So much so that the district paid back the Bureau of Reclamation for the cost to build Elephant Butte Dam and the handful of minor dams that support the greater system with several hundred miles of pipes, canals and pumps.
The pumps are the problem.
In 1939, when the compact became federal law, groundwater pumping in the district was estimated to be less than 3,000 acre-feet annually. A drop in the bucket. Those were wet years. A dry stretch from 1951 to 1978 exploded groundwater mining because the river couldn’t deliver what farmers expected.
About 5,500 acre-feet pumped in 1949 turned into 290,000 acre-feet in 1956 with an average of 150,000 acre-feet over the dry stretch, far more than foreseen in the 1939 compact. Hydrologists and Texas know depleted groundwater in New Mexico depletes surface flows south of Elephant Butte, which is Texas water. That’s why Texas sued New Mexico.
So though the three states came to an agreement, the United States, which intervened and has standing because of treaty obligations, challenged the agreement. The court’s decision upheld the challenge and denied congressional ability to approve the agreement.
Back to the bargaining table for the three states, which must now heed the federal government’s position, which is groundwater pumping is not sustainable at levels currently enjoyed by Southern New Mexico’s alfalfa, cotton and pecan farmers.
Calls by some to revert to 1939 pumping levels are unreasonable, but water-intensive agriculture is threatened.
