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Friday, September 13, 2013
Precedent Setting Water Grab Would Dewater Rio Grande Through Albuquerque
Another assault on the Rio Grande
Contact: Jennifer Pelz (303) 884-2702
Albuquerque, NM – In yet another assault on the Rio Grande, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority applied to move agricultural water upstream to be diverted at its drinking water facility in a way that would deprive the Rio Grande of essential flows through Albuquerque. WildEarth Guardians filed a protest yesterday with the New Mexico State Engineer requesting the application be denied because it is detrimental to the public welfare of the State of New Mexico.
“We cannot sit back and watch this one relatively small water transfer pave the way for dewatering of the river through Albuquerque,” said Jen Pelz, Wild Rivers Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “Upstream water transfers are typically bad news for the river; in this case, the impacts are compounded by the Water Authority’s intent to expand the historic agricultural right.”
The Water Authority is asking the State Engineer to allow the diversion of twice the amount that was historically consumed. Although some of that water will be returned to the river at the City’s wastewater treatment plant, flows in the Albuquerque reach (between the Alameda bridge and the Rio Bravo bridge) will be diminished by the transfer.
If this small water transfer is granted as requested, the path will be laid for the Water Authority to similarly transfer its more than 5,000 acre feet of agricultural rights. Under the precedent set in this case, the Water Authority could divert 10,000 acre feet near the Alameda bridge and return 5,000 acre feet at the Rio Bravo bridge depriving the river of 5,000 acre feet of water in the stretch between the point of diversion and where the water is returned to the river at the Authority’s wastewater treatment plant.
“The water that flows in the Rio Grande through Albuquerque is essential to the survival of endangered species as well as the health of the Bosque. Drying or substantially reducing the flows in another 15-mile reach—that has been protected from drying over the past decade—demonstrates that nothing is sacred in the Middle Rio Grande,” Pelz added.
The protest is the latest action in WildEarth Guardians’ campaign to protect and restore the Rio Grande, America’s third-longest and one of its most iconic rivers.
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