Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Meeting set for new well issues

Question and answer session for residents is on May 17

Evelyn Cronce El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

There was a 1939 novel titled "How Green Was My Valley." This could be applied to Socorro's Rio Grande Valley in the future if William Turner, Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District director, is correct about the San Augustin Ranch, LLC water rights application if it is granted.

The application made the news in December when legal publications appeared in local newspapers requesting water rights from the state to drill 37 wells with 20 inch casings in the San Agustin Plains Basin in Catron County at the edge of Socorro County. The wells would remove 54,000 acre-feet of water every year.

The protest period has passed, but the New Mexico State Engineer's Office has received many complaints. Among the protests are those filed by Catron County, Socorro County and the conservancy. The office is now in the process of reviewing the protests and will set up public hearings.

Meanwhile, an informational meeting has been set up at the Datil Elementary School gym on Saturday, May 17, at 6 p.m. Bruce Fredrick, the attorney representing a group of residents, will hold a question-and-answer session for all residents.

Turner said all residents in the Rio Grande Valley south of Albuquerque need to be concerned about the application. He cited the wording in the application he said is designed to be vague. The wording: "to divert and consumptively use" and "for municipal, industrial and commercial uses" opens up the possibility for severe consequences to farming in the valley.

Turner said the corporation plans to sell the water rights from the San Agustin Basin to the urban areas in the northern part of the state, including Albuquerque and Rio Rancho for the municipal, industrial and commercial uses.

The water would be taken out of the Rio Grande in the north and pumped back into the river south of Socorro using the proposed pipeline connecting the basin to the river to fulfill New Mexico's compact with Texas.

"This shorts the water to all MRGDC structures to farmers in the Middle Rio Grande valley even though these are the oldest water rights," Turner said. "If I were the state engineer, I'd turn it down."

Turner added that the projected affect of the removal of that huge quantity of water from the basin is projected to lower the water table in the area 30 feet per year. He said most of the older wells are only 30 to 50 feet deep. If predictions are accurate, those wells would be dry in a year or two.

Turner said the water policies in New Mexico have always been conservative. He said in the past the philosophy has been to live within the means of the safe yields of our aquifers.

Unlike California, New Mexico does not have the resources to rely on desalination of ocean water if our aquifers fail, he commented.

ecronce@dchieftain.com

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