Middle Rio Grande Water Resilience
We’re Still in a Heap of Trouble
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 MoreStaring into New Mexico’s Water Supply Abyss
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 MoreFrom the President’s Desk: Water Policy Progress and Tipping Points
On 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.
Read MoreThe Dilemma of Being A Small Urban Irrigator
The first time I irrigated it felt like a miracle. I could almost hear the gratitude of the trees soaking up the much-needed water. I am grateful to live on the watered side of the street.
Read MoreWithout Water, There’s Nothing!
A stone discovered in ancient rock layers exposed by tectonic shifts delicately picked out of its strata and examined, was found to contain a bit of water billions of years old: young water of our home, planet Earth. Young water, which itself took eons to become a source of all life: around, within, below, above,…
Read MoreCommentary: Surviving a drought
Drought – nature’s reminder that water does not grow on trees.
Drought is the time when some form of government advice or regulation prescribes that we collectively choose to reduce our uses of water, usually because of some form of government advice or regulation. It is the time when
Read MoreFrom the President’s Desk: “The Middle Rio Grande Water Governance Forecast is for Accelerating Progress in 2024!”
Part II – “Co-Creation of a Sustainable Water Future for the Middle Rio Grande.”
The past two years have set the stage for accelerated progress in managing New Mexico’s water resources for much greater resilience, as described in Part I, a 2023 summary report. Part II is about 2024.
Water Funding by the 2024 Legislature is Essential. Please tell your legislators.
Together, New Mexicans made significant strides in addressing the multifaceted challenges of water management and conservation in New Mexico in 2023.
Read MoreCommunities, Common Water Resources & Jurisdiction
This is a follow-on to John Brown’s essay “To Thrive in a Climate-challenged World, New Mexicans Should Govern Our Water as a Commons.” We need to grapple with our present situation, legal environment, and predictions, but these are likely to change. We have to ask whether our present water management regime can actually bring about…
Read MoreWhy Should You Plan for Water?
Who gets water when there isn’t enough? At a simplified level, the current “Priority Administration” regulations, if enforced when there isn’t enough water, would provide water to Nations/Tribes/Pueblos and other senior irrigators first, leaving very thirsty cities and towns. And with desperately thirsty cities and towns, the New Mexico economy would wither, taking down
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