A coalition of conservation organizations today announced an agreement with the City of Albuquerque that creates new mechanisms to acquire, store and release water to benefit the health of the Rio Grande Albuquerque, NM - A coalition of conservation organizations today announced an agreement with the City of Albuquerque that creates new mechanisms to acquire, store and release water to benefit the health of theRio Grande. This agreement closes one chapter in a longstanding debate over how to meet the needs of people and wildlife along the Rio Grande. The city and the conservation groups – Defenders of Wildlife, WildEarth Guardians, National Audubon Society and Sierra Club –stepped up to the plate, opening the door for all parties to work together to keep the Rio Grande alive and free. Settlement Highlights: • Today marks an agreement to create space to store environmental water in Abiquiu Reservoir. This will become one of the only reservoirs in the West with a significant amount – 30,000 acres/feet – of its space allocated to the storage of water to be used exclusively for environmental purposes. • This agreement commits $250K (from the city and plaintiffs) towards a pilot water leasing program, which both parties hope to have matched by federal and state funds. Wasteful and inefficient agricultural water use continues to be a significant part of the Rio Grande’s problems, but agriculture can also be a large part of the solution. • The settlement also helps connect the city’s urban population to the river by requiring the city to modify its water billing system so that residents have the choice to add $1 per month to their bills to go towards the purchase of environmental water for the Rio Grande. This provision strengthens the connection of urban dwellers to the Rio Grande. Comments from Conservation Groups:
Today’s agreement ends litigation involving the federal San Juan/Chama Water Project, of which the City of Albuquerque is the major beneficiary. The settlement does not address litigation over Middle Rio Grande Project Water, of which agricultural interests, namely the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, are the primary beneficiaries. 2/23/05 -Read the Settlement Agreement (PDF) ### |
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