By Rodd Cayton
The Village of Corrales is getting closer to protecting its water rights and holding onto any additional rights it might gain in the future. The village’s water team presented a draft 40-year water development plan to the Village Council on July 16, stressing the importance of finishing it and filing it with the Office of the State Engineer (OSE) as soon as possible.
Former state engineer Mike Hamman told councilors the village has never had a formal water plan. He said that with climate change reducing the amount of water available across New Mexico, the OSE will be strictly regulating the actions of municipalities. Hamman, who helped assemble the water team under former Mayor Jim Fahey, said the plan will need to be cited in any application related to water use.
“If you’re going to transfer water rights in, the state engineer wants to see that in your plan to see that you have a need for that,” he said.
Consultant Brittany Guame told councilors the region has lost 25% of its water supply over the last two decades, with a further 25% drop projected by 2050. Like other users, she noted, Corrales hasn’t been getting the water to which it is entitled through the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MGRCD).
“We’re not getting our allocation because there isn’t water,” Guame said. “As you all know, when you go walk the Bosque, there’s no water in the river. This is not a bad year — this is the new normal.”
Councilor Zachary Burkett asked about whether water used for fire suppression would count against the village’s allocation.
Guame said the Rio Grande Compact, which governs how the water is divided among New Mexico, Texas and Colorado, doesn’t give the state much choice. New Mexico is close to being in violation of the compact. A settlement reached this spring finally reconciled compliance that New Mexico was using more than it was allowed.
“Water is managed as a whole component that the state has to account for,” Guame said. “And just because it’s a public safety issue doesn’t mean that every drop isn’t accounted for, especially in light of the compact. So you’re using water that someone else could have been using.”
Guame said the village is now leasing water 30 acre-feet a year from Bernalillo, an arrangement that cannot be sustained.
“When that lease expires (in 2030), we will need something to backfill the process,” she said. “Bernalillo is no longer going to be leasing water — not because they don’t want to, but because that water is going away. It’s San Juan-Chama Project water … there’s not extra water for other municipalities to lease out like there was historically.”
Guame said the team is looking at about 50 acre-feet of water rights to ensure the village doesn’t go back to overdiverting (withdrawing more water from local sources than is legally permitted).
“That’s a little bit more than what we’re currently using, but that would allow us some flexibility,” should, for example, Corrales open a new park, she said.
The village’s existing rights include two wells, at the Old Bank and Old church sites, along with surface water rights for the Gonzales property, Guame said. The permit for each specifies where its water will be used. She said the team expects to have a permit to pool those rights, totaling 45 acre-feet, into a single reservoir system, approved by December.
John Stomp, a registered professional engineer and attorney working on water-rights matters, said the team is for now anticipating annual water-needs growth of 1% to 2% for fire suppression, with other uses expected to have half the growth. Stomp’s projections indicate that the village’s total demand will climb to 80 acre-feet over the next four decades, making up its deficit and accounting for climate variations.
Furthermore, Stomp said, having a plan protects the village from potential forfeiture or abandonment of its water rights, should they be unused for a time.
In response to another question, Guame said water rights are being sold for $18,000 or more, with some sellers asking $30,000, though she hasn’t seen any sales close at that price. She said she recommends that the village move quickly on any available water rights it discovers.
“It is going to take a year or two to complete the process of transferring and moving those water rights into the village’s portfolio,” she said. “There’s the negotiation process and the purchase agreement process (and), getting approval from council, and then we file the application, and that alone is at minimum a year’s time before the water rights are approved. And that’s if there’s no protest. If there’s a protest, it’s about a five-year minimum process.”“That’s a little bit more than what we’re currently using, but that would allow us some flexibility,” should, for example, Corrales open a new park, she said.
The New Mexico Environment Department last year approved a $2 million line of credit to the village for the purchase of water rights. The interest rate on the loan would be 1%, but the village will borrow no money until it has secured a purchase agreement.
Up next: Guame’s nonprofit, the New Mexico Water Advocates, is hosting a Zoom webinar at 6:30 p.m. July 23 to discuss the federal settlement, which relates to the Lower Rio Grande, and its possible implications for the Middle Rio Grande.