The oil and gas industry, enabled by our Governor and New Mexico regulatory agencies, is making a significant political push for the treatment and reuse of fracking wastewater. Unfortunately, their campaign relies more on disinformation than on scientific facts.
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While many steps are being taken in the right direction, we are short on reliable facts, trusted data, and funding; and long on misinformation. The Governor’s water leadership focus is badwater treatment, justified by oil and gas industry disinformation. The opportunity costs of this focus are unacceptable. The State of New Mexico must instead focus on stewardship of the good water that we have.
Read MoreThe recently articulated vision of the Honoring Water Group, an informal citizen’s group meeting at Zuni, Vanderwagen and Gallup is: “Abundant water, respected and treated ethically. When water is honored as sacred, mutual flourishing is possible.” This citizen’s group, with much organizational support from James and Joyce Skeet of Vanderwagen, seeks to honor and protect water in…
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The inconvenient truth is New Mexico’s economic well-being depends critically upon water. We are already in one of the driest periods in the last millennium and changing climate will make it worse.
Several statewide issues foretell slow train wrecks and do need attention. However, there is one water issue in the Middle Rio Grande that is urgent, potentially a fast train wreck. This article describes that urgent issue.
Read MoreIf I had only known! How many times have you said that in your life? Grab some caffeine and join me for a tour of our possible water future. Do you remember that time when you meant to go see someone but something came up, only to get a call that something had happened to…
Read MoreThis ongoing mismanagement of vital water data hampers effective decision-making needed to address the state’s water crisis.
New Mexico is at a crossroads. Without a significant shift towards a water governance framework that recognizes and integrates hydrologic and climate realities with actionable data, parts of the state risk becoming uninhabitable. This shift requires a departure from the Legislature’s practice of passing laws without funding their implementation. It is imperative that the Governor’s Office and the Legislature fully commit to funding the necessary changes outlined in the 2019 Water Data Act and the 2023 Water Security Planning Act. Only through such transformative changes can New Mexico hope to secure a sustainable water future for all its regions and residents.
Water managers along the Middle Rio Grande (MRG) and across New Mexico increasingly feel as if they are staring into an abyss of water shortages for increasing numbers of users who depend on water supplies for drinking, for economic growth, and even for the survival of our present-day economy. The reliable supply of NM’s surface…
Read MoreOn April 9, 2024, I witnessed a significant step forward in local government’s approach to water policies crucial for New Mexico’s future. Bernalillo County elected officials and staff have clearly acknowledged in a draft high-level plan that water poses a constraint. This marks the first official acknowledgment of hydrologic reality in Bernalillo County in a long time.
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NM Acequia Association came bringing signs that read, “Agua es Vida” and brightly painted shovels painted with the patron saint of the acequias, San Ysidro, which they bring out when there are times of drought. Dabi Garcia said, “This is a time when our community is under threat.” He then sang a traditional acequia song, keeping the beat on the shovel handle.
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Of course, we don’t often have the luxury of such abundance, but that connection—and potential for deepening connection—remains even at the driest of times. As I have entered the New Mexico “water world” as a young professional, I have been comforted and inspired by the deep and natural reverence New Mexicans have for water.
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