I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
In light of the mini-debate over water between mayoral candidates Martin Chavez and Richard Romero, Albuqueruqe Journal science writer John Fleck reminded us on his blog about an Up Front column he wrote last April that is pretty relevant to the very topic in question: whether or not Albuquerque has enough water to meet future needs.
In the article, Fleck looks at statewide water prospects, pointing to what seems to be current wisdom among water planners in New Mexico — that our current growth projections put us in the uncomfortable position of having greater demand than supply of water in the long run.
What that means, exactly, for the lay person isn’t so cut and dried. Does it mean we can’t actually continue to grow the way we have in the past? Does it mean we’ll run out of water if we don’t change our personal consumption habits? Does it take into account the possibility that we can treat all that brackish water deep under ground?
There are loads of regional water plans, apparently, that provide a litany of recommendations to close the projected water deficit we’re facing. The problem, though, is that those plans have no teeth. From Fleck’s Up Front column:
An analysis done for the Office of State Engineer concluded there was a gap of about 500,000 acre-feet of water between what the regional water plans say we need between now and 2040 to meet the state’s growth, and the water we have.
That is, in rough terms, enough water for about five Albuquerques.
It would be easy to criticize “plans” that have that much red ink in them. But each of the plans also includes steps the various regional planning groups said should be taken to close the gap.
The problem… is that the plans have no teeth. Nothing in the law requires local, regional or state government to act on the uncomfortable truth that New Mexico has a water deficit…
For “water planning” to really mean what the words in its title suggest, that gap between the plans and the legal reality needs to be addressed. We need the mechanisms to come to grips with the reality of New Mexico’s water deficits.
In his blog last week, Fleck ended by musing on a paper that brought him out of his “self-imposed silence” on the water debate (he doesn’t want to appear to be taking sides in a political campaign). The paper was written by water economist David Zetland, and suggests that in the West we have a history of building out supply that actually then creates demand. It’s well worth the read, you can get started on Fleck’s blog.
