Wednesday, January 31, 2018

WRRI NEWS

________________________________________ Meet the Researcher Caroline Scruggs, University of New Mexico by Catherine Ortega Klett, NM WRRI Program Manager Caroline Scruggs is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Planning at the University of New Mexico. She has BS and MS degrees in environmental engineering from Virginia Tech, and she worked as a consulting engineer for ten years before a particular project inspired her to go back to grad school. Scruggs says, “At the time, I was working on a large project in Las Vegas, Nevada, about how best to convey wastewater from the area’s three largest wastewater treatment plants into Lake Mead, which is the drinking water source for Las Vegas and downstream communities. This project included fascinating and important questions for me related to both potable water reuse and the effects of trace contaminants in wastewater on the environment and public health.” In 2012, she earned an interdisciplinary environment and resources PhD from Stanford University. She describes her dissertation as “focused on chemicals policy and smarter management of hazardous chemicals – thinking about the chemicals in consumer products that make their way into wastewater, the environment, drinking water, and living things.” Read more ________________________________________ NMSU PhD Student Studies Contaminant Movement in the Unsaturated Zone by Catherine Ortega Klett, NM WRRI Program Manager William Weaver, doctoral candidate in NMSU’s Department of Civil Engineering, received a 2017 NM WRRI Student Water Research Grant to study the mobility of contaminants in the unsaturated zone, the portion of the subsurface above the groundwater table. Working with his faculty advisor, Dr. Lambis Papelis, also of the Department of Civil Engineering, Weaver looked at strontium, a highly reactive chemical element, and chromate, a carcinogen known for its mobility in the environment, to investigate their movement in porous media following processes such as evaporation, rainfall, and irrigation. Project findings (available by clicking here) can be used by those involved in remediating contaminated sites to help them better understand the migration of contaminants in the unsaturated zone and the potential for contamination to spread away from the contaminated site. Weaver indicated that the student research grant provided him with funding to travel and conduct research on his experimental sample at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) at Stanford University. He said, “A personal highlight from conducting the study was a significantly positive experience performing research at Stanford University.” The grant also enabled him to purchase critical research equipment and supplies, and to travel to the American Geophysical Union Conference to present his project. Having earned a BS in chemistry from South Carolina State University, an MS in agronomy from Iowa State University, and an MS in environmental engineering from NMSU, Weaver plans to graduate in May 2018 with a PhD in civil engineering. Concerning his future plans, he said he wants to continue his career in a water-related field, working initially perhaps as a postdoctoral researcher and potentially as a faculty member of a research organization. NM WRRI Program Coordinator, Avery Olshefski (second from right) participated in a breakout group at the New Mexico Water Dialogue 24th Annual Meeting. ________________________________________ New Mexico Water Dialogue 24th Annual Meeting by Avery Olshefski, NM WRRI Program Coordinator The New Mexico Water Dialogue annual meetings bring professionals and the public together to discuss important water-related issues and to hear distinguished speakers’ perspectives on those topics. This year’s annual meeting was held at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, NM on January 11, 2018. The topic of the meeting was “Balancing Our Water Needs: Adjudication and Alternatives,” which evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of adjudications within the context of managing New Mexico’s water resources. The keynote speaker, Professor Reed Benson from UNM School of Law, touched on the purposes of adjudications and how they correlate with water management in New Mexico. He highlighted the fact that adjudications are done on a scale of decades, not years, and that alternatives to the adjudication process could benefit water management strategies for NM. On the other hand, Arianne Singer, Deputy General Counsel for the Office of the State Engineer, spoke about the benefits of adjudicating tribal claims because tribes and pueblos represent the greatest uncertainty for New Mexico’s water obligations. She also pointed out an example of how settling Navajo Nation tribal claims in the northwest corner of the state led to much-needed infrastructure and economic benefits for the region. Following the talks, there was a panel discussion about water management alternatives for the Lower Rio Grande and Clayton County, which were covered by Dr. Phil King and Dr. Kate Zeigler, respectively. After lunch, the attendees participated in breakout sessions that covered 11 topics that ranged from “Instream Flow and Wildlife” to “Shortage Sharing Strategies.” The annual meeting concluded with Lucia Sanchez, Interstate Stream Commission, and Kelsey Rader, New Mexico First, giving an update on the State Water Planning Town Hall that was held in December 2017. NM WRRI staff from left: Blane Sanchez, Sam Fernald, Catherine Ortega Klett, Jesslyn Ratliff, and Fernando Herrera. ________________________________________ NM WRRI Staff Attends AgFest by Catherine Ortega Klett, NM WRRI Program Manager Staff from NM WRRI took part in the annual AgFest expo in Santa Fe on January 23. The event, hosted by the New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau, featured many exhibits that provide legislators and other visitors with program information. Institute staff prepared slides that were shown on large screen monitors featuring recent activities including reports, conferences, and research projects conducted by faculty and students from around the state. NM WRRI Program Specialist and Water Science & Management (WSM) Program Coordinator Jesslyn Ratliff provided information on NMSU’s WSM graduate student program opportunities. The event attracted over a thousand participants. ________________________________________ iEMSs Congress 2018, Fort-Collins: A Session on Socio-Ecological Modeling of the Rio Grande/Bravo Basin The 9th International Congress on Environmental Modeling & Software will be hosted at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, on June 24-28, 2018. This year, the theme is focused on Sustainable Food-Energy-Water Systems. The Call for abstracts is now open. Session E4 “Methods and Approaches to Modelling Socio-Ecological Dynamics of the Rio Grande/Bravo Basin”, co-organized by social and environmental scientists from the University of Oklahoma and Oregon State University, will provide a forum for the international Rio Grande/Bravo Basin research community to present their current modeling efforts and engage in a discussion about theoretical and methodological findings that can help to solve complex environmental and social issues within the basin. The abstract submission deadline is February 15, 2018 (extended). For abstract guidelines, visit the iEMSs 2018 congress website at: http://iemss2018.engr.colostate.edu/call-for-abstracts/. All abstracts (250 words maximum) must be submitted online using the provided abstract form.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

33 recommendations have been submitted to the ISC

Dear Town Hall Registrant, New Mexico First and the Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) thank you for your attendance and participation at last month’s state water planning town hall. Due to your commitment to water policy, 33 recommendations have been submitted to the ISC for consideration and potential inclusion in the 2018 State Water Plan. We are now proud to announce the release of the State Water Planning Town Hall Final Report. The report details the processes and outcomes of the town hall – including all 33 of the recommendations with their perceived impact voting results. Please access the report here and at nmfirst.org. Sincerely, The New Mexico First Team nmfirst.org info@nmfirst.org 505-225-2140

Monday, January 8, 2018

New post on La Jicarita

New post on La Jicarita La Madera Water Watchers by lajicarita By KAY MATTHEWS Ike DeVargas was raised by his grandparents in a part of La Madera called El Llanito on the Rio Vallecitos. Here he hiked, fished, and hunted the river canyons north towards the llano of Los Ancones and south along the acequias that irrigated the fields of the village. That was almost 60 years ago. Today, on both sides of Llanito, concerns have arisen over the use of water: the traditional acequias, where newcomers have been developing properties, and the dryland llano, where a resort called Rancho de Vallecitos is being developed. Members of the La Madera community have organized a group called Acequia and Aquifer Water Watchers to monitor the developments and ensure a clean, safe, and adequate water supply that is distributed and used fairly and legally. None of this kind of activity is new to the villages of northern New Mexico as demographics change. The traditional caretakers of the acequias are growing older and their children are leaving home for better employment opportunities elsewhere. It remains to be seen if they will come back, as many of their parents and grandparents did after being forced to leave temporarily to find work. The querencia that inhabits their souls kept their land and traditions intact. But the more recent migrations have created a vacuum filled by those seeking a similar lifestyle (hippies, yuppies, and everyone in between) without the traditional knowledge—or desire—to maintain the delicate balance that keeps everyone afloat. Thus the land and water conflicts continue and at times escalate. “Your New Mexico Fly Fishing and Recreation Dreams Start Here.” That’s the billing on the Santa Fe real estate site promoting river front lots in Rancho de Vallecitos. The “ranch” owns about 50 acres on the east side of State Highway 111 along the Rio Vallecitos and 800 acres on the dry, west side that are being divided into building sites. On another real estate website it states that “only seventeen owners will ever share this pristine place . . . With lots that range from 5 to 76 acres.” The community is fenced and gated, some wells are in place, and two log cabin shells have been built. Structure on the riverfront properties On the plat for the riverside lots, it shows one lot sold, one pending, and three 5-acre lots that range in price from $225,000 to $235,000. The plat for the west side of the resort, which they are calling Plateau Ranches, shows four ranches sold (they’re all named) that vary in size from 48 to 76 acres and $160,000 to $300,000 in price (two of them have a cabin shell). Rancho de Vallecitos is classified as a "summary subdivision," which allows for a less stringent administrative review and public hearing process by the county: the Rio Arriba County Planning and Zoning Department’s public hearing in 2015, which was attended by several dozen residents of La Madera and neighbors in nearby villages, met those requirements. None of the subdivision is on irrigated land, although one map that Water Watch members Ike DeVargas and Deborah Begel saw in a New Mexico Legal Aid office referenced “Native American” water rights and usage in the distant past. According to DeVargas, “In all my years of hiking and fishing in that area, I never saw evidence of irrigation.” Plateau Ranches will be served by domestic wells, and the river front properties will be able to hook up to the Ancones Mutual Domestic Water Association water system. This water system, which according to documents at the Office of the State Engineer (OSE) did not divert any water during the years of 2013-2015, applied for funding from the state beginning in 2015. The Water Trust Board awarded the mutual domestic $499,990 for “Plan, Design, Contruct” in 2015 and an additional $717,831 in 2016 for “Construction.” In addition, the New Mexico Environment Department Construction Programs Bureau gave the mutual domestic $150,000 in 2016. The mutual domestic has also applied for 2017 funding from the Water Trust Board to fund “6,745 LF of 8 and 6 inch waterlines, 740 LF of HDPE waterline installed by horizontal directional drilling for river and wash crossings, gate valves, fire hydrants, appurtances, and water meters.” So far this funding from state coffers comes to a whopping $1,367,821. To hook up to a mutual domestic water system, well owners must dedicate their wells, which are limited to 1 acre-foot of water per year (afy). According to an El Llanito member of the mutual domestic, hook up fees range from about $1,000 to $1,500, and his family’s monthly water bill has risen from $10 to $30. There are approximately 15 families from his community who are members of the mutual domestic. He says he doesn’t drink the water, to be on the safe side, as it doesn’t yet run clear. With only five lots on the river front properties, I wondered if the subdivision had also applied for any water rights transfers to increase its water supply. According to the subdivision application filed in Rio Arriba County, the owners are listed as the Ybarra Family LLC, which owns many restaurants in Texas, with George Pelletier listed as the director of the Rancho de Vallecitos Homeowners Association. The OSE has no water rights application on file under either of those names. Gazebo on the river I contacted Pelletier to ask him about whether Rancho de Vallecitos had acquired any other water rights or was claiming that irrigation rights are attached to the property. He told me he had no interest in talking with a reporter and hung up the phone. I also e-mailed the president of the Ancones mutual domestic but he never responded. According to members of Water Watch, at the 2015 county hearing Pelletier said the new landowners inherited “Native” water rights, despite a lack of evidence that irrigation along the river has been continuous, which is required in New Mexico to maintain water rights. Another issue that raised the concern of the Water Watchers was in the village of La Madera when landowner Caroline (CC) Culver sought to transfer acequia water rights to a well to expand her farm’s capacity. This is a recent, dangerous trend that has been tried in other areas of el norte. Back in 2013, I reported on Blackstone Ranch’s (located in Taos) application to transfer just under 12 acre feet per year of surface water rights from the Alamitos Acequia to a groundwater well to irrigate landscaping around the “main-house,” a small orchard, gardens, greenhouse, and “fire-prevention pond”—which translates to 6 afy of groundwater. Their reason was quite obvious: the transfer would insure the ranch irrigation water when there wasn’t enough water in the acequia due to drought conditions. This, of course, sets a bad precedent: as surface water continues to dry up, more and more irrigators will want to pump groundwater instead. New Mexico is currently in litigation with Texas after farmers in southern New Mexico, dependent on Elephant Butte Irrigation District for irrigation, came up short and pumped groundwater to save their crops. In California, at the height of the recent drought, farmers started drilling so many wells that the ground started to subside. In Culver’s case, she applied to the OSE to transfer 6 afy of water rights from La Zorra Acequia to a domestic well to expand her irrigation on 1.6 acres of land on her Owl Peak Farm (her property is located on SH 519 near the confluence of the Rio Vallecitos and Rio Tusas, which form the Rio Ojo Caliente). The domestic well she had already drilled came up artesian, producing 100 gallons a minute (the average household flow rate is about 5 to 12 gallons per minute). Christopher Thornburg, Gallinas Water Master for the OSE, approved the well plan operation she submitted, but Rolf Schmidt-Peterson, the New Mexico Interstate Commission (NMISC) Rio Grande Basin Manager, wrote a letter to the OSE regarding the transfer application to the well that stated: “In particular, one of the NMISC’s concerns with the transfer application is that its approval at the full requested diversion amount could result in an increase in Rio Grande Basin depletions above pre-Compact [Rio Grande Compact] levels. More specifically, we are concerned that the actual historically-available surface water supply may have been insufficient to meet the full permitted surface diversion right should it be transferred to groundwater.” Acequia and Aquifer Water Watchers operates under the umbrella (or fiscal sponsorship) of Amigos Bravos in Taos, which also engages in water watching activities. The La Madera group sponsored two meetings to address Culver’s application to transfer the acequia water rights. Approximately 50 people attended the first, and about 30 people attended the second, which was held just before Culver’s initial water transfer hearing before the OSE was to occur. Water Watchers member Deborah Begel said, “That kind of attendance tells me that the community is very concerned about usage of groundwater for irrigating — no doubt because it’s a finite supply. And any transfer of water from an acequia diminishes its integrity, especially La Zorra ditch, which has so few parciantes.” In fact, if Culver were to give up her water rights and membership in the ditch, it would cease to exist. She and two other parciantes fulfill the New Mexico requirement that a ditch must have at least three members. Begel, along with other members of the group, filed protests of Culver’s transfer application with the OSE. At the second community meeting on April 25, 2017, Water Watch member Ann Futch asked Culver why she wanted to transfer the water rights, noting rumors that Culver planned to bottle it. It seemed strange that the well had been drilled on the east side of the Tusas River, not very close to either the house or fields of Owl Peak Farm. According to Futch, Culver answered that she had planned to bottle it, but the next day, April 26, she withdrew the transfer application. I called the Water Rights Division of the OSE to see if anyone there had followed up on the status of the well. According to an official, the OSE issued Culver a permit for a domestic well, limited to 1 afy, but doesn’t require that she submit a meter reading with a 1 afy water limit. Culver bought her first property in the La Madera area in 2006 and divides her time between New Mexico and a luxury estate in Dobbs Ferry, New York. She subsequently bought and developed several other large properties, one of which is on the former Dora Gallegos land watered by La Cueva Acequia on the south side of La Madera, where she also grows crops. She built a greenhouse and two-story commercial-size building that remains empty. Culver's empty building and greenhouse In 2014 she also bought the 120-acre property known as Statute Springs located on the llano above La Madera. On her blog it is described as a "sister property to Owl Peak Farm." The property, which cannot be seen by other residents of the village, has a swimming pool fed by hot springs. According to the blog, Culver has dug and filled a pond and installed an irrigation system to grow buckwheat, barley, peas, and native grasses. There is a natural spring on the property with a flow rate of 30 gallons per minute. In addition to her agricultural enterprises, Culver runs another business through Owl Peak Farm called the “/Shed,” which sponsors gourmet dinners at various locations described on the website this way: “/ Shed is a small scale nomadic, wild plant based dinner project celebrating nature and the fleeting of time here in Northern New Mexico. An exploration of the land we inhabit and the roots of growing up in the high desert. Carrying on the tradition of bringing people together through food.” The December 2017 dinners scheduled in La Madera were all sold out at $95 per person. The address given is that of the Owl Peek Farm on SH 519. A concerned neighbor alerted the county to the /Shed business and a code enforcement officer visited La Madera in April of 2017 but was unable to locate Culver. In November the officer called Culver and left a message inquiring about the business, but when I spoke with her in December she hadn’t received a reply. According to the county, there is no business application on file for the /Shed. Neighbors have also questioned whether Culver has developed new wells on the Gallegos property, although she’s a member of the La Madera Mutual Domestic. That membership usually requires an owner to give up well rights. The OSE well filings on Culver did not include listings for the Gallegos property. I contacted Culver to ask her what her plans are for the new building but she never responded. People in the La Madera area support Owl Peak Farm’s contribution to growing food, including some interesting new varieties, but they want Culver and other newcomers to play by the rules and maintain the underground aquifer for current and future generations of residents. The fact that neither Culver nor Pelletier would speak to me to answer questions about their water use now and their plans for the future is troubling. It doesn’t bode well for future transparency. And when it comes to both the quantity and the potability of future water supplies, decisions about how individuals and developers tap and use water will remain issues of concern. lajicarita | January 8, 2018 at 12:33 pm | Tags: / Shed, Acequia and Aquifer Water Watchers, Ancones Mutual Domestic Water Assoiation, Caroline Culver, George Pelletier, La Madera, Owl Peak Farm, Rancho de Vallecitos, Rio Arriba County, Water Trust Board | Categories: Acequias, Agriculture, Commons, Development, Farming, Groundwater, Hispano culture, Ike de Vargas, New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, sustainability, water and acequias | URL: https://wp.me/p2bCkq-1KJ Comment See all comments

Southwestern willow flycatcher keeps 'endangered' status

Southwestern willow flycatcher keeps 'endangered' status The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service announced the southwestern willow flycatcher would keep its protection under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service announced the southwestern willow flycatcher would keep its protection under the Endangered Species Act. Jim Rorabaugh/USFWS via Wikimedia Commons Posted Friday, January 5, 2018 6:00 am By Cody Hooks chooks@taosnews.com Ranching organizations in New Mexico that asked the federal government to remove a small bird from its list of endangered speeches received some disappointing news last week. On Thursday (Dec. 28), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service announced the southwestern willow flycatcher would keep its protection under the Endangered Species Act. The New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau and New Mexico Wool Growers Inc. filed a petition in 2015 to have the bird removed from the federal list of at-risk species. The New Mexico organizations were joined by a building industry organization in California and represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative law firm that has also litigated to overturn jaguar habitat designations in Southern New Mexico. The groups challenged that the southwestern willow flycatcher is not a valid subspecies and argued that the bird no longer faced a variety of threats that put it on the endangered list. "An exhaustive review of the best available scientific information... led to the conclusion that the southwestern willow flycatcher is a subspecies protectable under the [Endangered Species Act]," according to the Thursday press release from the wildlife agency. While some populations of the bird have made progress toward recovery, the bird and its habitat "are experiencing substantial threats." The bird populations have "declined because of removing, thinning, or destroying riparian vegetation; water diversions and groundwater pumping which alter riparian vegetation; overstocking or other mismanagement of livestock; and recreational development," according to the agency. Taos County is home to habitat for the southwestern willow flycatcher, including along the Río Grande del Rancho. "The habitat is degraded but has potential to be high quality," read a Carson National Forest review of wild and scenic eligible rivers released in September. None of the subspecies have been observed in that habitat since 2014. "We are disappointed," Caren Cowan, executive director of the cattle growers' association, told The Taos News Wednesday (Jan. 3). "This is an issue we've been involved with since 1997. Most of the damage has been done," Cowan said. "The [endangered status] decision was made based on the habitat, which is a means of control of lands and people and not necessarily addressing the bird itself."

New Mexico leaders will travel to U.S. Supreme Court for Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado

New Mexico leaders will travel to U.S. Supreme Court for Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado By: Kate Bieri Posted: Jan 03, 2018 12:54 PM MST Updated: Jan 03, 2018 06:33 PM MST Texas New Mexico Water Wars New Mexico political and agricultural leaders will travel to Washington, D.C. for oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado on Monday. The litigation at hand involves a decades-old dispute among states in the southwest: Water. “Obviously, being in the desert, we are extremely reliant on water," said Robert Faubion, President of Elephant Butte Irrigation District's Board of Directors. In 2008, EBID and its sister district in El Paso entered into an operating agreement that provided El Paso with extra water to make up for those impacts of pumping here in the Mesilla Valley, Faubion said. Texas sued New Mexico in 2013, alleging a violation of that agreement. “Texas made it clear at the time that if they challenged the operating agreement, that Texas would feel obliged to go to the Supreme Court, and that is exactly what happened and that is exactly why we’re here where we are today," Faubion said. “This is a huge issue that could affect states all across the nation," said Samantha Barncastle Salopek, General Counsel for the Elephant Butte Irrigation District. Barncastle told ABC-7 that this could be a precedent-setting case because the federal government has moved to intervene in the dispute among states. “What the United States has said is that they have enough of a federal interest in this contract, that even though they have not signed on to it, they’re not a party to the contract, they should still be allowed to come into this case and litigate as though they were a party to the contract," Barncastle said. Las Cruces city officials would not comment on the case because of pending litigation.

Friday, January 5, 2018

Northern New Mexico Wetlands Roundtable

Northern New Mexico Wetlands Roundtable Toney Anaya Building, 2550 Cerrillos Road, Rio Grande Room (2nd Floor) January 18, 2018, 9:00am – 4:15pm 9:00 - 9:15 Introductions, Maryann McGraw, New Mexico Environment Department 9:15 – 10:00 Wetland Restoration and the Recovery of Endangered Plants: Building partnerships to restore native habitats in Santa Rosa - a role model for endangered plant conservation in New Mexico, Daniela Roth, Botany Program Coordinator EMNRD – Forestry Division 10:00 – 10:45 The Plug and Pond Treatment: Restoring Sheetflow to High Elevation Slope Wetlands in New Mexico, Bill Zeedyk, Zeedyk Ecological Consulting 10:45 – 11:00 Break 11:00 – 11:45 Springs Inventory on the Cibola National Forest: Summary and Update, Livia Crowley, Forest Hydrologist, Watershed Program Manager, Cibola National Forest and Grasslands, US Forest Service 11:45 - 1:00 Lunch 1:00- 1:45 US Bureau of Reclamation Wetland/Habitat Projects and Advanced Credit Mitigation, Lori Walton Senior Biologist, Environmental Compliance and Monitoring, Bureau of Reclamation Albuquerque Area Office 1:45 - 2:00 USACE Regulatory Update, Deanna Cummings, US Army Corps of Engineers, Senior Regulatory Project Manager, Regulatory Program, Albuquerque District 2:00 – 2:15 Discussion 2:15- 2:30 Break 2:30 - 3:15 Habitat Restoration and Management of Native and Non-native Trees in Southwestern Riparian Ecosystems, Malia Volke, Aquatic & Riparian Habitat Specialist, Ecological and Environmental Planning Division, New Mexico Department of Game & Fish 3:15 - 4:00 Candelaria Farm Preserve Management Plan, Albuquerque, Brian Hanson, Chairman, Technical Advisory Group, Candelaria Farm Preserve 4:00 - 4:15 Closing Remarks, Maryann McGraw, New Mexico Environment Department The Roundtable is organized by New Mexico Environment Department Wetlands Program.

WET Lands Round table

Southern New Mexico Wetlands Roundtable Las Cruces City Hall 700 North Main Street, Room 2007-B&C (2nd floor) January 23, 2018, 9:00am – 4:00pm 9:00 - 9:15 Introductions, Maryann McGraw, NMED 9:15 - 10:00 Acequias and Wetland Hydrology, Sam Fernald (or designee), NM Water Resource Research Institute 10:00 - 10:45 Spatial variability in stream temperatures in Black Canyon. Implications for stream restoration and Gila Trout recovery, John Moeny, NMED Surface Water Quality Bureau 10:45 - 11:00 Break 11:00 - 11:45 Restoring Playas in Eastern NM, Maryann McGraw, NMED, Surface Water Quality Bureau 11:45 – 12:00 Announcements 12:00 - 1:15 Lunch 1:15 - 1:30 Discussion 1:30 - 1:45 NM Non-Point Source Program Update, Abe Franklin, NMED Surface Water Quality Bureau 1:45 - 2:30 Effectiveness Monitoring Success Stories with ANCOVA, Dan Guevara, NMED Surface Water Quality Bureau 2:30 - 2:45 Break 2:45 - 3:15 Regulatory Update, Justin Riggs, US Army Corps of Engineers 3:15 - 3:50 TBD 3:50 - 4:00 Announcements / Closing Remarks, Maryann McGraw, NMED The Roundtable is organized by the NMED Wetlands Program.

NMED SWQB will accept written comments until the end of the business day (5pm) on 1-22-2018.

Surface Water Quality Bureau Point Source Regulation Section Updates ________________________________________ Draft Permit Public Notice Announcement This is a notification that the public notice and associated federal comment period have been opened for the draft of the Pojoaque Terraces Mobile Home Park (NM0028436) and Anthony Water and Sanitation District (NM0029629). The permit, fact sheet/statement of basis and other associated information can be found at the following websites: https://www.env.nm.gov/swqb/PublicNotice/ and/or https://www3.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/publicnotices/nm/nmdraft.htm The NMED Surface Water Quality Bureau, Point Source Regulation Section has opened the comment period for consideration in development of the State’s Clean Water Act 401 Certification of the draft permit per 20.6.2.2001 NMAC. For this facility, if you have comments that you would like NMED to consider as the Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification is drafted, please send them to: Sarah Holcomb, Program Manager NMED SWQB Point Source Regulation Section PO Box 5469, Santa Fe, NM 87502 sarah.holcomb@state.nm.us 505-827-2798 For more information on the draft permit, contact the following assigned staff: Anthony Water and Sanitation District: Barbara Cooney NMED SWQB Point Source Regulation Section PO Box 5469, Santa Fe, NM 87502 [barbara.cooney@state.nm.us; 505-827-0212] Pojoaque Terraces Mobile Home Park Jennifer Foote NMED SWQB Point Source Regulation Section PO Box 5469, Santa Fe, NM 87502 [jennifer.foote@state.nm.us; 505-827-0596] NMED SWQB will accept written comments until the end of the business day (5pm) on 1-22-2018. NMED does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age or sex in the administration of its programs or activities, as required by applicable laws and regulations. NMED is responsible for coordination of compliance efforts and receipt of inquiries concerning non-discrimination requirements implemented by 40 C.F.R. Part 7, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and Section 13 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. If you have any questions about this notice or any of NMED’s non- discrimination programs, policies or procedures, you may contact: Kristine Pintado, Non-Discrimination Coordinator New Mexico Environment Department 1190 St. Francis Dr., Suite N4050 P.O. Box 5469 Santa Fe, NM 87502 (505) 827-2855 nd.coordinator@state.nm.us If you believe that you have been discriminated against with respect to a NMED program or activity, you may contact the Non-Discrimination Coordinator identified above or visit our website at https://www.env.nm.gov/NMED/EJ/index.html to learn how and where to file a complaint of discrimination. El Departamento del Medio Ambiente de Nuevo México (NMED, por su sigla en inglés) no discrimina por motivos de raza, color, origen nacional, discapacidad, edad o sexo en la administración de sus programas o actividades, según lo exigido por las leyes y los reglamentos correspondientes. El NMED es responsable de la coordinación de esfuerzos para el cumplimiento de las reglas y la recepción de indagaciones relativas a los requisitos de no discriminación implementados por 40 C.F.R. Parte 7, que incluye el Título VI de la Ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964, como fuera enmendado; la Sección 504 de la Ley de Rehabilitación de 1973; la Ley de Discriminación por Edad de 1975; el Título IX de las Enmiendas de Educación de 1972; y la Sección 13 de las Enmiendas a la Ley Federal de Control de la Contaminación del Agua de 1972. Si tiene preguntas sobre este aviso o sobre cualquier programa de no discriminación, norma o procedimiento de NMED, puede comunicarse con la Coordinadora de No Discriminación: Kristine Pintado, Non-Discrimination Coordinator New Mexico Environment Department 1190 St. Francis Dr., Suite N4050 P.O. Box 5469 Santa Fe, NM 87502 (505) 827-2855 nd.coordinator@state.nm.us Si piensa que ha sido discriminado con respecto a un programa o actividad de NMED, puede comunicarse con la Coordinadora de No Discriminación antes indicada o visitar nuestro sitio web en https://www.env.nm.gov/NMED/EJ/index.html para saber cómo y dónde presentar una queja por discriminación. ________________________________________ POINT SOURCE REGULATION SECTION CONTACT: Sarah Holcomb sarah.holcomb@state.nm.us https://www.env.nm.gov/swqb/PSR/

State water rights experts: Controversial water project is ‘speculative’ By Laura Paskus

Almost 100 people packed into the Catron County Courthouse in Reserve, N.M. last week for a hearing about plans to pump groundwater from beneath the Plains of San Agustin in southwestern New Mexico. Augustin* Plains Ranch, LLC wants to pump 54,000 acre-feet of water—more than 17 billion gallons—each year from the aquifer and pipe it to commercial or municipal water customers hundreds of miles away. The state has rejected similar applications from the company twice. Now, a third application is pending before the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, which administers the state’s water resources. The final decision will lie with the State Engineer, a position currently held by Tom Blaine, who was appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez three years ago. Opponents of the project say the application is the same as those previously rejected, and that the company fails to say who will use the water it plans to pull from the area. At the hearing, Chris Lindeen, deputy general counsel at the Office of the State Engineer, ticked off the ways in which the application is complete, and explained that water rights applicants have the right to due process, just like protestants. But he had more to add. Under the New Mexico Constitution, water is owned by the public and subject to “prior appropriation.” That is, people or entities with water rights must put that water to “beneficial use.” When considering water rights applications, the state must consider three crucial issues: public welfare, whether the project will impair existing water rights holders and conservation. Speculation, Lindeen explained, can be described different ways, including as monopolizing or hoarding water. And that relates to public welfare. The San Augustin Plains Ranch application, he concluded, is speculative and violates the prior appropriation doctrine. “So, the water rights division recommends that the State Engineer dismiss or deny the application based on speculation,” he said. The company’s project director, Michel Jichlinski, remained upbeat after the hearing. “The hearing confirmed that our application is complete as per the law,” he wrote in an emailed statement to NM Political Report. “APR remains the best and only economically viable project currently proposed to alleviate the known water shortages which threaten the future well being of the State.” He added that the company looked forward to “demonstrating that APR can provide sorely needed water to the Rio Grande basin, without any impairment to the area’s residents now and in the future.” Unlikely alliances Carol Pittman, an opponent of the project who lives just outside Datil, was surprised to hear Lindeen call the project “speculative” but remained only cautiously optimistic. “We don’t know what that means: Will the State Engineer go along with it, or is he going to ignore it?’” asked Pittman. “We’re going to proceed as if the application were going to be heard, and we’re going to continue with our plan to hire a hydrologist.” Local residents want to better understand the aquifer and how pumping might affect it and the water rights of the people who already rely on it. Pittman and others in conservative Catron County, as well as environmental groups, have been fighting against the project for about a decade. “I think a lot of people who live in urban and suburban communities cannot really fathom people who live so far apart as we do—Quemado is 40 miles away, Glenwood, 100 miles away—who have pulled together,” Pittman said. “People do come together. The only ones who left [the coalition fighting the project] are those who died or had to sell their property to move.” Catron County’s attorney, Pete Domenici, Jr., blasted the company for not adhering to New Mexico state law. Before the state’s hearing examiner, Uday Joshi, Domenici criticized the application on a number of fronts, including for not explaining where the company plans to sell the pumped water. “On its face, this proposal says, ‘We don’t have to follow New Mexico law,’” he said during the hearing. Catron County covers about 7,000 square miles and hosts only about 3,500 residents. Domenici assured the hearing officer that the remote, sparsely populated county not only expects, but demands, that the rule of law apply to the proceeding. The pueblos of Sandia, Isleta, and Santa Ana and Sandia also opposed the application. An attorney for the Pueblo of Sandia, Jessica Aberly, said at the hearing that without including an end-user or place of use for the water, the company prevents the pueblos from understanding how the project might affect them. She also noted the company’s plans to build its pipeline across the Pueblo of Isleta. But, Ablerly said, “Isleta can find nothing about the specifics of this pipeline that will go across its property, other than the drawing of a line across the map.” Fears of a precedent “The issue here is whether water can be taken out of a rural area, where people are using it, and transported for use in areas like Socorro, Belen, Los Lunas, Albuquerque, or Rio Rancho, which is where the company proposes to run its pipeline,” said Douglas Meiklejohn, executive director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, which represents about 80 individuals, as well as some homeowners associations and the Gila Conservation Coalition. “There seems to be a view that rural areas of the state or agricultural uses of water can be sacrificed for municipal and industrial uses of water.” That’s not unique to the San Augustin proposal, he said. “The prevailing view of decision makers in a lot of the parts of New Mexico where development is proposed is that somehow or other, development can always get more water,” Meiklejohn said. “That’s the sort of thinking, it seems to me, that’s also behind the Bernalillo County Commission’s approval of the proposed Santolina development.” Western Albuquerque Land Holdings, created by Barclays Bank and two other investors, wants to develop more than 13,000 acres on Albuquerque’s westside, and needs approval from Bernalillo County for its Santolina Master Plan. Opponents of Santolina have questioned where the water to support such a large new community would come from. Catron County Commissioner Anita Hand has also been fighting San Augustin Plains Ranch. A decade ago, her brother and father spotted a legal notice in the newspaper announcing the plans to drill 37 wells into the aquifer. They feared the project would deplete their own water supplies and ruin the ranch they have built up over decades. “Obviously, we’re hoping this will get thrown out and we won’t have to deal with it again,” Hand said of last week’s hearing. “Unfortunately, this is something we’re going to have to deal with until we get some legislation passed.” Such legislation, she explained, would prevent interbasin transfers of water, or prevent water speculation. The upcoming legislative session, however, is a 30-day session, focused mainly on the budget. “For rural New Mexico, this is one of our biggest concerns, that something like this comes in and destroys our livelihood, our way of life, and any type of future where we can pass on our ranch to our heirs,” she said. “If they can do it here, if they can find another way to justify taking water or natural resources from one area to benefit another area, it sets a precedent.” No buyers yet To buy or transfer water rights in New Mexico, people or companies must show the water will be put to “beneficial use.” According to its application, the company plans to sell water commercially in seven counties and to state and federal agencies. It also says it will provide water for Magdalena, Socorro, Belen, Los Lunas, Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. No buyers are identified, but the application includes a 2014 letter from Rio Rancho City Manager Keith Riesberg who wrote that if it’s successful, the city would be “interested in discussing” moving water into the city’s system. Others towns named in the application, like Magdalena and Socorro, are actively fighting the project. The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority weighed in publicly ahead of the hearing. In a letter published by the Albuquerque Journal in early December, the authority’s chair, Klarissa Peña, wrote that the authority “wishes to make clear that the agency does not intend—or need—to purchase water from the Augustin Plains Ranch.” NM Political Report followed up with the authority’s chief operating officer, John Stomp. “We understood that the San Augustin pipeline application had somehow identified us [as a buyer of the water], that’s why we wanted to make sure we clarified that,” he said. “The best future for us is to conserve and utilize the resources we already have.” The authority recently completed a 100-year planning effort, he said, after studying 37 alternatives to supply water for the city’s future. “Importing water was certainly one of those alternatives,” Stomp said. “But clearly, we didn’t pick San Augustin or anybody else.” Stomp added that in its new plan, the board agreed it will not import water or purchase pre-1907 water rights. Aside from water rights belonging to New Mexico’s pueblos, those are the oldest water rights, typically associated with farms. For about two decades, the water authority has been transitioning away from groundwater and toward surface water from the Rio Grande and the San Juan-Chama Project. As a result, Stomp said, “Albuquerque is in a pretty good position to meet demands for the next 100 years without looking at other people’s water to support our interests.” “We want agriculture to continue, and not transferring pre-1907 water rights is a very important step for us,” he said. “And we want to make the same pitch to the San Augustin Project, that we’re not interested.” The state itself, however, might end up looking for water. New Mexico is squaring off against the state of Texas and the federal government in the U.S. Supreme Court on Texas v. New Mexico. Texas filed the lawsuit in a dispute over New Mexico’s deliveries of Rio Grande water. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation also joined the suit, against New Mexico. If New Mexico loses the case, the state could owe a billion dollars or more in damages and also be forced to curtail groundwater pumping by farmers in southern New Mexico. After losing a similar lawsuit against Texas on the Pecos River in the eastern part of the state, New Mexico started a program to pump groundwater into the Pecos during dry times. The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer did not respond to a request for comment on the hearing or the San Augustin Plains Ranch application. *Geologically, the area is the Plains of San Agustin or the Valley of San Agustin. The ranch, however, is spelled differently: Augustin Plains Ranch.

FOREST SERVICE HOSTS COLLABORATIVE FOREST RESTORATION PROGRAM ANNUAL WORKSHOP, JANUARY 10-11, 2018

FOREST SERVICE HOSTS COLLABORATIVE FOREST RESTORATION PROGRAM ANNUAL WORKSHOP, JANUARY 10-11, 2018 The Southwestern Region of the US Forest Service is hosting the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program (CFRP) 2018 Annual Workshop on January 10-11, 2018 in Santa Fe New Mexico. The workshop will be held in the Jemez Rooms of the Santa Fe Community College, 6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87508 (Jemez Rooms), 1-505-428-1000. The workshop is open to the public and there is no charge for attending. To register for the workshop, click here: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07eeusi18j418f8c48&llr=dljzvhoab The CFRP Annual Workshop brings together CFRP grant recipients, their partners and other stakeholders to share their experiences and discuss accomplishments, challenges, and strategies to overcome barriers to the implementation of collaborative forest restoration projects. CFRP grants can be used for hazardous fuels reduction forest restoration projects on or on any combination of federal, tribal, state, county and municipal and land grant lands in New Mexico. To be eligible, grant applicants must use a collaborative process that includes a diverse and balanced group of stakeholders and appropriate government representatives to design, implement and monitor their project. The 2018 CFRP Request for Applications and the agenda for the January 10-11, 2018 Annual Workshop will be posted on the CFRP website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/r3/cfrp. 2018 CFRP grant applications will be due on February 27. For more information on the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program Annual Workshop, please contact Walter Dunn at 505-842-3425 or Amanda Montoya at 505-842-3176. Thank you, Walter Dunn