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Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Water Storage Space Secured to Sustain Flows in the Rio Grande
A landmark agreement this week that secures an "Environmental Pool" of 30,000 acre-feet of storage space in Abiquiu Reservoir to sustain flows in the Rio Grande
Contact: Jennifer Pelz (303) 884-2702
Albuquerque, New Mexico – Environmental groups, the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and federal water managers finalized a landmark agreement this week that secures an “Environmental Pool” of 30,000 acre-feet of storage space in Abiquiu Reservoir to sustain flows in the Rio Grande. This agreement is vital to a long-term water management strategy in the arid southwest, where stored water may be the only water available to the river in times of prolonged drought.
“This is an important day for the Rio Grande,” said Jen Pelz, WildEarth Guardians’ Wild Rivers Program Director. “Securing storage space in the Middle Rio Grande is like opening a bank account, it allows for saving as a safety net for the future. The agreement is significant because it changes the historic paradigm of storing water exclusively for cities and agriculture and recognizes the Rio Grande’s need for its own water in order to persist in this climate changed landscape.”
The Environmental Pool is a storage space set aside by the Albuquerque’s Water Authority for exclusive use by environmental groups to benefit of the Rio Grande, Bosque habitat and endangered species. The storage space dedicated to the Environmental Pool is roughly 15% of the Authority’s total storage in Abiquiu Reservoir.
Art De La Cruz, Chairman of the Water Authority Board, said the agreement is emblematic of the Water Authority’s commitment to the Rio Grande.
“The Water Authority worked in partnership with Wild Earth Guardians to establish this agreement because we believe in promoting a healthy river and Bosque, and in supporting endangered species recovery,” De La Cruz said. “The Environmental Pool is the right thing to do.”
Environmental groups will obtain conservation water for storage in the Environmental Pool through lease, purchase or donation. The Water Utility Authority will coordinate storage and release of that conservation water—at the direction of environmental groups—to benefit the Rio Grande. Conservation water, for example, could be used to sustain flows in the river in times of drought or could be released in large volumes to provide peak or overbanking flows to benefit the cottonwood Bosque and the endangered species that depend on the habitat created by such flood flows.
The environmental pool was proposed as a part of the 2005 settlement of a lawsuit brought in 1999 by environmental groups to protect the Rio Grande under the Endangered Species Act. Some of the ideas championed in that settlement are now becoming a reality.
In combination with securing storage, the settlement also contemplated the establishment of a pilot water-leasing program whereby farmers would be compensated for agreeing not to divert water in a given year; the water that goes unused by the farmer would be used to keep the river flowing in times of drought.
The settlement agreement also created a Living River Fund to provide compensation to farmers for participating in the program. The Water Authority and environmental groups provided the initial money to the Fund and it has since grown to upwards of $270,000.
“Now that an environmental pool exists, our next step is to locate farmers who are willing to cease use of their water on a rotational basis to make water available to the river,” added Pelz. “Such water-leasing programs exist throughout the West as a solutions for farmers and the environment.”
The need for these and other bold solutions grows as water levels in the Rio Grande fell in June to levels not seen since the 1950s drought. Fortunately, rain in the valley has prevented an ecological catastrophe so far this summer by keeping more of the river flowing, but a long-term solution is still needed to protect the river and the bosque from the looming crisis.
Support is building for exactly the type of leasing program contemplated in the 2005 settlement agreement. Senator Udall inserted language into the Water & Energy funding bill calling for the establishment of such a program that will shortly be voted on by the Senate.
Programs to acquire water from farmers have been successful throughout the West and have served as long-term solutions to securing a flow regime in rivers to sustain river-dependant endangered species. This solution is long overdue in the Middle Rio Grande.
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