Guardians Seeks Equity and Accountability for Rio Grande

Suit to Force Water Accounting by the District

Additional Contact:
Samantha Ruscavage-Barz, 505-401-4180


SANTA FE, N.M.—WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit today in state district court to protect flows in the Rio Grande by demanding the State Engineer hold the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District accountable for its unrestrained use of the river in central New Mexico. The suit calls on the District to prove that it has actually used the large quantity of water it claimed upon receiving its permits from the State Engineer 80 years ago. Despite the clear mandate under its permits, the District has long avoided proving its use with the hope of over time expanding dramatically the irrigated acreage in the valley.

“For 80 years the State has given the District a blank water check which is depriving the Rio Grande, the Bosque and their native fish, wildlife and plants of the water they need to thrive,” said Jen Pelz, the Wild Rivers Program Director at WildEarth Guardians. “This wild-west approach to water management is killing our river and threatening the long-term water sustainability of the state, including the state’s ability to meet its obligations under the Rio Grande Compact.

Guardians is requesting the court compel the State Engineer to perform his mandatory duty under the law to either set a date by which the District must prove actual use of the water it claimed in 1925 or cancel the permits. State law requires a permit holder “prove beneficial use” of the water it claimed by the date certain set in the permit. The State generously granted extensions to the District from 1935 to 1987 and still the District did nothing to make good on its obligation. In 1997, after another decade of inaction, State Engineer Tom Turney set a deadline of December 31, 1997 for completion of a water accounting. As of the date of this lawsuit, the District continues to skirt its mandate.

“The District has a responsibility to the water users in the District as well as the citizens of the State of New Mexico to only use the water it needs,” added Pelz. “Our suit will provide accountability and free up water to help right the historic injustice that deprives the river of a right to its own water.”

The group also simultaneously filed two applications with the State Engineer to appropriate water to store in the Environmental Pool in Abiquiu Reservoir and sustain environmental flows in the Rio Grande. The applications claim any and all water the District has not put to beneficial use and dedicates it in the future to protect and restore flows, habitat and ecosystems important for the survival of fish, wildlife and plants of the Rio Grande.

“The District does not have any right, let alone an inalienable right, to control the entire flow of the Rio Grande,” added Pelz. “It is time to make the river whole again and ensure that current and future generations of New Mexicans have a living Rio Grande.”

Samantha Ruscavage-Barz, WildEarth Guardians’ staff attorney represents the organization in the litigation. This lawsuit is the latest action in the group’s campaign to protect and restore the Rio Grande, America’s third longest and one of its most iconic rivers.


 

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