Emergency Drought Response Unveiled by Minnow Action Team

Violations of 2003 Biological Opinion Imminent

Albuquerque, New Mexico – A proposed emergency federal water management plan that allows the Rio Grande to dry in Albuquerque and along dozens of miles from Cochiti to Elephant Butte could lead to the extinction of the Rio Grande silvery minnow according to WildEarth Guardians. The group said the plan unveiled last week at a meeting of federal and state water managers and other interested stakeholders is too little too late.

“The plan is akin to re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic while the ship is sinking. We need bolder action to prevent the imminent ecological crisis on the Middle Rio Grande,” said Jennifer Pelz, WildEarth Guardians’ Wild Rivers Program Director. “Long-term solutions—such as a water-acquisition program from farmers—should have been implemented over the last decade to secure water for droughts like the one that is upon us.”

At the meeting, the Minnow Action Team (“MAT”) recommended emergency actions it deemed necessary to prevent the extirpation of the silvery minnow in three reaches of the Middle Rio Grande: Angostura, Isleta and San Acacia. The emergency water plan would: 1) stop releases of environmental water by June 1 to save it for later in the season, thereby violating two key flow requirements of the 2003 Biological Opinion, and instead; 2) Release conserved supplemental water to maintain small flows and habitat below each of the three diversion dams and possibly near drain outfalls until water is gone (July 29). 

Additionally the plan calls for more rescue efforts when larger portions of the river would dry, especially if summer monsoons fail to materialize. The proposed emergency water measures do not remedy the substantial drying of the Rio Grande, even into its most upper reaches, nor do they prevent significant loss of minnow habitat.

The silver lining to this plan—as compared to the 2003 Biological Opinion—is that it recognizes the importance of committing water to the populations of silvery minnows that exist below the Isleta and San Acacia diversion dams after June 15. It has always been an absurd Achilles heel of the 2003 BO that no river flows are required in over two-thirds the length of the Rio Grande between Cochiti and Elephant Butte Reservoirs.

The Bureau of Reclamation has secured 46,000 acre-feet of water from leases with San Juan-Chama contractors to help implement the emergency plan. This amount is half of what the Bureau estimates is necessary (86,800 acre-feet) to meet the flow targets mandated by the 2003 BO. None of the “supplemental water” is native to the Rio Grande basin.

“The Middle Rio Grande has already received a significant bail-out to the tune of 90,000 acre-feet of San-Juan Chama water” added Pelz. “It is about time the State of New Mexico, the MRGCD and other stakeholders on the river actually contribute to a solution with wet water from the Rio Grande basin.”

Water users in the Middle Rio Grande engaged in business-as-usual water practices even in the face of one of the worst droughts in history. For example, the MRGCD continued to operate its water bank well into the spring even when it was clear that stream flow forecasts were less than 30% of average. Many of the farmers that get their water from the water bank are those who previously sold their water rights to municipalities.

“A District controlled ‘water bank’ has no place in an unadjudicated, over-allocated basin, where proof of beneficial use has never been made,” noted Pelz.


 

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