Video: Centering Equity in Water Planning

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An informative, interactive discussion regarding water resilience planning to show how we should equitably share water supplies in our hotter and drier future. IPL New Mexico & El Paso was a co-sponsor of this event organized by The Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates

The Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates and other nongovernmental and community organizations believe centering equity in water planning is crucial for New Mexico’s public health and a balanced and secure future. What does centering equity mean in the context of sharing reduced water supplies, across New Mexico and in the Middle Rio Grande? How should regional water scarcity and resilience planning advance public health, and justice, equity, accessibility, diversity, and inclusiveness. What should the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission forthcoming water planning rules and guidelines say about inclusion of public voices? About equitable access to water to meet human needs and community values?

Panelists include Paula Garcia, Interstate Stream Commissioner and Executive Director of the New Mexico Acequia Association; Jorge Garcia, Executive Director, Center for Social Sustainable Systems. and Marcia Fernandez, a retired teacher who lives on a small South Valley farm, and is a board member of the MRGWA, CESOSS, and South Valley Coalition of Neighborhood Associations.

Water in the Mid Rio Grande Area: A Tale of Two Cities

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(Excerpt from mid Rio Grande Times)

Many of us in the mid Rio Grande area take water for granted when we open the faucet or flush the toilet. We may not know anything about the processes for supplying potable water or its disposal after use. We probably notice that our water bills also contain a bill for wastewater disposal, and we may realize that our water disposal is related to our water use.  But we may know very little about the water management system.

In the larger metro area, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) manages drinking water and wastewater disposal. The Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) for which census data is regularly collected includes Albuquerque as well as towns such as Estancia, Moriarty, Edgewood, Cedar Crest, and surrounding areas.  Not all of the MSA is served by ABCWUA, though.  ABCWUA draws on the Middle Rio Grande Basin for groundwater, while the Estancia Basin is used by many non-urban water users in the area.

Households in non-urban settings have more direct involvement in their own water supply and disposal.  Non-urban households – outside of towns with municipal water supplies – get their water from groundwater wells and dispose of their wastewater through onsite (septic) treatment systems.

Read full article

 

Sister Joan Brown: For modern era, update oil and gas laws

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In an opinion piece published in The New Mexican (Santa Fe), Sister Joan Brown, executive director of Interfaith Power & Light- New Mexico and El Paso, called on the state of New Mexico to modernize laws covering the oil and gas industry.  Here an excerpt from the  piece.

For modern era, update oil and gas laws

Many things in the world have changed since 1935 when New Mexico’s laws for oil and gas were written. Since then, New Mexico has grown to be the second-largest oil-producing state, behind only Texas. Oil and gas development has exploded in our state, impacting our environment, climate, public health and front-line communities. But the oil and gas laws of 1935 have not kept pace with the world we live in today.

Businesses are run by people who have families and want to be ethical and moral. Making policy changes in oil and gas rules to include public health, communities, our children and our future would help everyone. How many of us live life as it was 90 years ago?

We all must care for the common good. Updating antiquated rules for the 21st century makes sense. One area is to ensure taxpayers aren’t left to clean up the mess when wells inevitably run dry and need to be plugged. Taxpayers are left to foot the bill to clean up these polluting wells — a burden now and a debt our children must bear.

As part of the 2021 infrastructure bill, Sen. Ben Ray Luján secured a $4.7 billion investment to plug orphan wells. Wells in New Mexico are orphaned when operators go under — often in an inevitable oil bust — and walk away without cleaning up their mess. These abandoned, unplugged wells can lower property value and land productivity, pollute groundwater and release known carcinogens into our air. Too often, states, tribes, the federal government and taxpayers are left to pay to plug wells. Communities are left with polluted lands.

We have never had enough money to plug these orphaned wells, and we now have nearly 2,400 orphan wells in New Mexico, with potentially thousands more that are at risk of becoming orphaned in the near future. The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament instructs us to be caretakers, not polluters or destroyers. Plugging wells is a way to caretake and be responsible.

Read full op-ed