Middle Rio Grande Regional Water Plan

Appendix 8-A. Steering Committee Review of the 2004 Strategies
Page 4 of 24
2004
Strategy
Name
2015
rankings
Complete a
Progress b
Priority c
Water Resources Planning and Management
R2-1—
Adjudication
and Water
Rights
Settlement
(A-71)
R2-2—
Conjunctive
Use
Management
(A-144)
Strategy Description from Chapter 10.2 of 2004 Plan
N 1 5 Identifying, quantifying and prioritizing water rights is
paramount to better water management. Currently, the State
Engineer uses the process of adjudication to accomplish this. It
is recommended that this process be utilized in the region
unless a more expedient, equitable, and less costly process is
created. Alternative dispute resolution should be considered as
an option. Furthermore, this plan recommends that the
legislature appropriate and the State Engineer direct sufficient
funds to prepare the necessary information, including
hydrographic surveys, to identify, quantify and resolve priority
ownership rights.
N 3 5 Ground water and surface water are two parts of the same
system in the Middle Rio Grande Region; each interacts with
and markedly affects the other. For water resources in such a
system to be managed effectively, they must be managed
together, that is, “conjunctively.” New Mexico is presently
unable to conjunctively manage its ground and surface waters
effectively because of state laws that are mutually incompatible
and that have led to overdrafts that greatly exceed
sustainability. (continued on next page)
2015 Steering Committee Comments
The Steering Committee agreed that adjudication was a
high priority but that no action has been initiated on the
MRG's section of the Rio Grande.
The Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Users Authority
(ABCWUA) has seen significant improvement in local
groundwater conditions by reducing per capita water use
and supplementing the groundwater supply with surface
water supplies from the San Juan River, thus reducing
pumping. On the operational side the ABCWUA has had
great success with conjunctive management, but
legislation on conjunctive management has yet to be
achieved and is still needed. Conjunctive management is
also a state plan recommendation.
a Y = Yes, N = No, S = started
b Progress: 1 = Not effective, 5 = Very effective
c Priority: 1 = Low priority; 5 = High priority
Middle Rio Grande Regional Water Plan 2017