Middle Rio Grande Regional Water Plan

Other steering committee members were identified and asked to participate through
recommendations and outreach to specific interests such as tribal entities. Tribal governments
were invited to attend in whatever capacity was appropriate to them. Through this outreach, the
Middle Rio Grande region established a representative steering committee, the members of
which are listed in Table 2-1.
The steering committee includes several individuals who are generally knowledgeable about
water issues in the region and are involved with many of the PPPs related to water management
in the region. The list also includes non-profit groups who are involved in local water-related
initiatives. The steering committee identified a chair and co-chair as follows: Ron Brown, of
AMAFCA, and Steven Perich, of the Association of Commerce & Industry of New Mexico.
These leaders were chosen because of their knowledge about the region, and have helped to
maintain an active steering committee with regular meetings. The steering committee was
supported by MRCOG planning staff, who sent out information and letters of invitation to tribes,
pueblos and other stakeholders.
2.2.2 Regional Water Plan Update Meetings
The steering committee met every other week from February 17, 2015 through June 9, 2015 at
the offices of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini office located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Meetings
were not publicly advertised due to budget limitations but were open to the public, and
representatives of interested groups frequently attended the meetings. Each steering committee
member was encouraged to select an alternate to represent their organization in the event the
primary member was unable to attend a meeting. A telephone call-in number was created so that
any interested parties or committee members unable to attend in person had the opportunity to
teleconference the meeting if they so wished. Generally, steering committee members were
asked that they ensure other concerned or interested individuals received the announcements and
recommended key contacts to add to the master stakeholder list throughout the planning process.
During the first few meetings, the steering committee discussed and reached consensus on what
could and could not be accomplished in the limited time period and with the limited funds
available. Given the extensive process and evaluations done for the 2004 RWP, the committee
concluded that the 2017 RWP should include a progress report of Chapter 10's
Recommendations. The product would be (1) an assessment of what has been implemented in
the past ten years and (2) a prioritization of the unfinished recommendations over the next five
years plus other strategies to address the current information provided in the technical platform
developed by the State.
Over the two-year update process, 17 NMISC-facilitated meetings were held in the Middle Rio
Grande region with an additional public meeting sponsored by the Rio Grande Water Assembly
that brought together water experts to discuss future strategies. A summary of each of the
meetings is provided in Table 2-2.
Middle Rio Grande Regional Water Plan 2017 8