WildEarth Guardians

Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Rio Rancho Water Transfer Threatens Rio Grande Flows

Challenge requests the State Engineer Deny the Application
Contact: Jen Pelz, 303-884-2702, jpelz@wildearthguardians.org

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

ALBUQUERQUE, NM–In an effort to hold the State Engineer accountable for protecting the health of the Rio Grande and the public welfare, WildEarth Guardians challenged a water transfer application filed by the City of Rio Rancho and Bosque del Sol, LCC that would reduce flows in the river and lead to increased water use in the valley. The Application filed with the State Engineer and published earlier this month in the Albuquerque Journal outlined the applicants’ plan to discontinue use of water for irrigation on a farm in Socorro County within the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (“District”) and transfer that water upstream to the City to offset the impacts of its well field on the Rio Grande in Sandoval County. The City concedes that it does not currently need the water and requests to lease the water back to the farm for a period of ten years under the Water Leasing Act.

“The State Engineer should be leading the charge to ensure the sustainable and responsible use and transfer of water that protects flows in our rivers,” said Jen Pelz, Wild Rivers Program Director at WildEarth Guardians. “We hope that our protest will encourage the State to more carefully scrutinize this and other water transfers that have potential to increase water use in the Basin and reduce flows in our rivers.”

Guardians’ challenge highlights how the City’s proposed water transfer will reduce flows in nearly 100 miles of the Rio Grande and change the location, amount, and timing of return flows that contribute to the river system south of Socorro. The potential change to flows in the river is significant given the importance of the middle valley as vital habitat for the endangered fish, wildlife and plants. Further, the change in return flows reaching the river system near Socorro will impact the water supply of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, the health of the river in that reach, and the ability of the State to meet its delivery obligation to Texas under the Rio Grande Compact.

The group is also concerned that the transfer could lead to additional depletions to the river by creating a use of water that did not previously exist. In past transfers, the State Engineer has approved the sale and transfer of agricultural water to upstream municipalities without requiring dry up of the associated farmland. Such a restriction would ensure that transferred water is only being used at its changed location for the new purpose. Instead, those same farmers are currently allowed to lease water from the District so-called “Water Bank” to continue to irrigate the move-from property despite the likely new depletions caused by the duplicate use.

“The policy of allowing continued irrigation of land where the owner has sold off the water rights needs to come to an end,” said Samantha Ruscavage-Barz, staff attorney at Guardians. “It is contrary to the law and the public welfare of the state.”