State to close input Friday on proposed regional water boundaries, planning meeting rules
A sandhill crane plucks its way through the shallow waters in the wetlands of the Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)
Regional water planning will begin in earnest later this year, but New Mexicans have until midnight Friday to weigh in on proposed boundaries, rules and plans for conducting those meetings.
In 2023, legislators passed a law to beef up regional water planning, develop rules for public discussion and ensure tribal governments ' inclusion. Lawmakers assigned the task to the Interstate Stream Commission, an unsalaried body of eight that has broad powers over New Mexico waters. The commission previously released state water plans in 2003 and 2018.
As human-induced climate change warms the planet and threatens to reduce New Mexico's scarce water supplies by 25% in the next 30 years, developing local water priorities is crucial, according to Interstate Stream Commissioner Hannah Riseley-White.
'There are people across New Mexico who are feeling climate impacts right now on the landscapes where they live and work, and on their bottom lines, their income,' Riseley-White said in a blog post for the program. 'We should always be thinking, how is this enabling and supporting and empowering communities to implement the solutions that make the most sense to them?'
Last year, the state hosted 16 open houses and drafted the rules; the regional water planning boundaries and guidelines for the actual planning, which is slated to start later this year.
The state proposed nine regional water councils with boundaries based primarily on watersheds.
NM-WSPA-Hydro-Admin-Greyscale-Map
The councils, according to draft rules, would require at least eight members appointed respectively by municipalities; counties; irrigation or conservancy districts; tribal governments; soil and water conservation districts; New Mexico Acequia Commission; and rural water systems within the regional boundaries.
The councils would also have 10 at-large members to represent the following interests: agriculture; colleges or universities; environmental or conservation organizations; recreational users; industrial users; and five other unspecified members.
The councils would determine the roles, terms and processes for removing anyone from the council.
The councils would be required to meet at least three times per year to develop water plans for developing projects every five years, and a more comprehensive Regional Water Security Plan every decade. The rules would require public input on each plan through meetings and public comments, and would also suggest publishing information materials in languages such as Spanish, Tewa or Navajo, depending on the region.
The Interstate Stream Commission's website for regional planning can be found at mainstreamnm.org.
Here are the draft rules for the regional water planning councils, draft guidelines for council objectives, and proposed boundaries for the regional planning councils in an interactive and static map.
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