LAURA PASKUS
Already “Baked In”
New Mexico’s water challenges loom large on the political landscape
request of Lujan Grisham. He’d previously served as State Engineer from 2003 to 2011, appointed by Gov. Bill Richardson and remaining for almost a year under Gov. Susana Martinez. When Lujan Grisham’s transition team approached him in 2018, he was working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Asked at that time, why he would want to head the state agency again, especially given New Mexico’s water challenges, D’Antonio said he didn’t initially apply for the position. “But as I spoke to the transition team…and noting how much of a challenge we have as a state, I thought it was important to have someone coming back in that could pull a lot of things together,” he said. Even at the time of that interview, early in 2019, D’Antonio was worried about the agency’s budget. Then, roughly one-quarter of the staff positions were empty.
New leadership, new opportunities
Elephant Butte Reservoir, pictured here in March 2021, is currently about 6% full.
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ew Mexico officials know that continued warming is drying out the state’s rivers, farmlands, forests and reservoirs. And while there are plans to address some of those challenges, state water experts say they lack resources to implement changes. This summer, more than 30 miles of the Middle Rio Grande dried. Farmers in that region, as well as further south, in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, received lower-than-normal water allocations. For the second year running, the Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Utility had to rely exclusively on groundwater pumping during the summer and fall. Statewide, streams, rivers and reservoirs are low. And the forecast for this winter is another warm one, and another dry one. The impacts of climate change are “baked in” with the amount of greenhouse gases already present in the atmosphere, said Norman Gaume, former New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission director, in an interview early last week. “New Mexico is going to be much drier and much warmer and is going to have much less water,” he said. “Put that decline in our water on top of the fact that we’re already using more water than is sustainable in most areas of the state.” Addressing these problems boils down to “facing our problems,” Gaume said. But both the “public demand” and the “political appetite” for serious changes in water management have yet to occur, he said. 10
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Water policy and funding doesn’t appear high on the Legislature’s agenda, Gaume said. And while Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham published an “excellent water policy platform” during her election campaign in 2018, he said water hasn’t been a priority during her administration. “The best thing that could happen to us would be if she would turn her attention to that and actually see it implemented,” Gaume said. “It may not do everything we need to do, but it would be a wonderful start.” And clearly, New Mexico’s top water officials are feeling the crunch of inaction and inattention.
Water boss calls it quits
Last Wednesday, three of New Mexico’s top water officials announced their resignations to fellow staff. John D’Antonio, New Mexico’s state engineer, had submitted his resignation to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Oct. 31, saying he would stay in the job until the end of the year. As state engineer, D’Antonio also serves as secretary of the Interstate Stream Commission, Rio Grande Compact commissioner, Costilla Creek Compact commissioner, the governor’s representative on the Colorado River, Upper Colorado River Compact commissioner, and chairman of the Water Trust Board. In a list of discussion points, D’Antonio noted that “we’ve taken the agency as far as we can, given the current agency staffing level and funding resources.”
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Other issues he cited in his resignation memo include: • “For nearly three years we’ve been asking for additional staff and funding to protect the state’s water resources. We have been directed to submit a flat budget for FY 23 despite strong financial revenue projections.” • “Glaring non-response from the legislature on funding the 50-Yr Water Plan for the last three years with expectations that it be completed regardless of funding limitations.” • “67 fewer Full Time Equivalent (FTEs) than our agency had during the [Bill] Richardson administration.” • “Unfunded mandates on recent legislation such as the Cannabis Regulation Act further strains our limited staff.” •“Inability to retain highly experienced professional staff due to non-competitive pay structure.” D’Antonio’s resignation came along with that of Interstate Stream Commission General Counsel Arianne Singer and Office of the State Engineer General Counsel Greg Ridgley. The news reverberated throughout the New Mexico water community last week. Speaking on background, one high-level water attorney in the state said he was “terrified” about what it means for New Mexico’s water future. Known for an even disposition and the ability to get along with various agencies, commissions, and states, D’Antonio returned to state government in 2019, at the
“I will miss many of the folks who chose to leave,” said Rep. Nathan Small, D-Doña Ana. But he thinks there is now an opportunity to “move forward aggressively” on the state’s water challenges. He acknowledged the Legislature’s need to fund the water agency’s budget at a level commensurate with the challenges. But, he said, since 2019 the Legislature has increased the Office of the State Engineer’s budget by about 11%. And on average, he said, about 10% of the agency’s total budget, about $3.8 million, remained unused. Agencies can request that unused money—budgeted toward staffing positions that aren’t filled—be redirected toward other projects. When that request isn’t made, the money is returned to the state’s general fund. Small also noted the need for “new ideas for more comprehensive and innovative water management issues, [and] I rarely saw those originate within the Office of the State Engineer.” “As we look forward with strong budgetary capacity, with a clear and keen understanding of the stresses that the climate crisis places upon New Mexico’s core water infrastructure and the ways that our systems of water use have been set up, I am very hopeful for a strong, active and innovative partner,” Small said of the agency’s leadership: “One that is committed to using all of the funding capacity that the Legislature appropriates—which has not been the case for the last few years—and is a part of bringing forward new tools and stronger collaboration with regional stakeholders, be those acequias, irrigation districts or the myriad other stakeholders.” Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, “absolutely agrees” that the state’s water agencies
