Reform Water Governance
From the President’s Desk: The Governor’s ‘Strategic Water Supply’ and the Million Dollar Contractor’s ‘Feasibility Study’
You won’t learn from the Feasibility Study Review Draft that desalination of Permian Basin fracking wastewater, the explicit 2028 goal of the Governor’s 50-Year Water Action Plan, would require all the energy from multiple San Juan Generating Station-sized power plants to produce a maximum of 65,000 acre-feet of treated water and an equal amount of concentrated, hazardous waste. You also won’t learn that desalination of 100,000 acre-feet per year of deep brackish water would require the equivalent of building three and a third El Paso Kay Bailey Hutchison desalination projects.
Read MoreFrom the President’s Desk: Governor Lujan Grisham’s Bad Water Priorities for Next Fiscal Year
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 MoreFrom the President’s Desk: Water Resilience, Powerful Politicians, and 10-Year Outcomes
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 MoreWe’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 MoreFrom Portales, NM – “If Only I had Known”
If 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 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 MoreSpending on an Unstrategic Badwater Not-Much-of-a-Supply
The so-called strategic water supply is the opposite, like “produced water” as a name for toxic oil field waste. It is not beginning with the end in mind. It is not putting first things first. It is not informed by facts and science. It is unvetted. It is wrong.
Read MoreFrom the President’s Desk: Sweetwater
The sweet waters of New Mexico are necessary for all life in our beloved state, in all our home places, our querencias. An acerbic senior ISC water engineer told me 25 years ago that we know where New Mexico’s water is. It is where we live, irrigate, water livestock, hunt and fish, and enjoy our heritage. He didn’t need to say “sweetwater”.
Read MoreFrom the President’s Desk: State Government Neglect of Water Must Stop Now
To prevent population evaporation, it is vital that the state fund serious adaptation measures to cope with reduced water availability. This is not a temporary drought but a permanent increase in aridity. The State of New Mexico has the power and resources to initiate required strategic changes. We know the path forward. We urge you to communicate this to the Governor and the Legislature. Do what Water requires. Do it Now.
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
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