Water worries Duke City
Metro area debates pipeline's impact on San Juan-Chama

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority says legislation to settle Navajo Nation claims over water in the San Juan River Basin raises concerns about the long-term availability of water from the San Juan-Chama Project.

Mark Sanchez, executive director of the authority, said in testimony last week before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that the Authority supports settling Navajo claims and strongly endorses the provision of drinking water under the Navajo-Gallup project, as it would reduce the risk of Navajo making potentially larger claims which most likely would affect the available water supply for non-Indian uses.

However, Sanchez said, the authority is concerned about the impacts of the settlement on the long-term availability of water from the San Juan-Chama project, and about certain sections of the legislation as it is written.

The San Juan-Chama, which diverts water from southern Colorado into New Mexico by way of the San Juan River and the Rio Chama, was authorized in Public Law 87-483 along with the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project. Though the Chama project was completed in 10 years, after more than 40 years, NIIP is only 70 percent complete.

Water needs
In 1928, a framework was developed for importing Colorado water into the Rio Grande Basin and Rio Chama from the San Juan River. The legislative history for the San Juan-Chama project clearly shows that the city was the primary beneficiary of the project. The water was needed because Albuquerque was not specifically provided any Native water supplies under the Rio Grande Compact."

In 1963, the city signed the first contract for an annual amount of 53,200 acre-feet of San Juan-Chama water. An amendment in 1965 reduced that amount to 48,200 acre-feet per year. The Authority has invested more than $50 million for San Juan-Chama water and will continue to make payments until 2020, Sanchez said.

"In the early 1960s, the technical understanding in the Middle Rio Grande region was that the aquifer was a limitless resource that would meet the needs of the city in perpetuity," Sanchez said. But in 1994, the U.S. Geological Survey published a report "that completely changed our understanding of the aquifer, the relationship between the Rio Grande and the aquifer," he said.

In 1997, the city adopted a new strategy to use San Juan-Chama water as a drinking water source. "The $450 million San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project will come on-line in 2008 and will represent 90 percent of our supply at that point and will be our primary source of supply well into the future," Sanchez said.

In addition to the authority, there are more than 15 San Juan-Chama contractors, including the cities of Santa Fe and Espanola, that are developing direct diversion and use of Chama water, which will be used to meet the demands of more than one-third of the state of New Mexico in the Rio Grande Valley.

"It is critical that these interests in the Rio Grande are protected in this settlement," he said.

Shortage sharing
Under legislation authorizing the Chama project and NIIP, all contractors must share the available water supply from Navajo Reservoir during times of shortage. The Secretary of the Interior is required to determine that sufficient water is likely to be available.

Sanchez said the Hydrologic Determination signed by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on May 23 determined that sufficient water is likely to be available for the settlement. However, Sanchez said, "To date, we have not reached an understanding with the Bureau of Reclamation or the State of New Mexico regarding a determination about the water that could be available to the San Juan-Chama project during a shortage and how new contracts could affect the water supply."

The Authority has hired a consultant to complete an independent hydrologic analysis of the impacts of the settlement on the San Juan-Chama project as it relates to the frequency and extent of shortages. Sanchez said it is expected to be completed within the next few weeks.

Among other issues, Sanchez said that in amendments to Public Law 87-483, the legislation provides for a maximum diversion right over a 10 year period for NIIP to be the lesser of 508,000 acre-feet per year or the quantity of water necessary to supply an average depletion of 270,000 acre-feet per year.

"Although these figures were the subject of intense negotiations, it seems that because there are two different figures, that an effort to clarify how these are to be used or what they represent should be specified so as to avoid future misinterpretation," he said.

He questioned whether another provision, which allows an increase of diversion, also applies to an increase in depletions. "If a shortage was declared for two years in a row, would increased diversions be allowed in the following years to make up the difference?

"We suggest adding language that this increase in diversion not be allowed in any year where the Secretary determines that the increase may increase the likelihood of a shortage in subsequent years."

More troubles
Sanchez said language in the legislation does not appear to limit the use of NIIP water to New Mexico.

"As the water for the settlement is from New Mexico's apportionment of Upper Colorado River water, any use of the water should be limited exclusively in New Mexico. We suggest the addition of a provision limiting the uses to New Mexico," he said.

The Authority also recommended that language be developed to clarify how shortages are to be calculated, and to specifically limit the ability to add more shortage partners in the future.

Sanchez said new language allows the State of New Mexico to arbitrarily reduce the amount of water for Navajo Reservoir contractors and the San Juan-Chama project to meet the Upper Colorado River Basin compacts.

"The State of New Mexico has stated on a number of occasions that they have the ability to limit diversions under state law to meet compact requirements. In addition, this provision is unconstitutional because this provides the state the opportunity to avoid priority administration by arbitrarily deciding to reduce diversions by only some entities and not others.

"The Navajo Reservoir and San Juan-Chama contractors are not the only uses of the basin and should not be singled out to meet compact obligations nor pay the price for over-diversions by others. This language does not appear in the Jicarilla water rights settlement nor any other settlement and does not belong in this legislation. It should be deleted," he said.

Another "very troubling" section pertains to the ability to increase allocations, Sanchez said, because "additional uses from the Navajo Reservoir will obviously increase the likelihood of shortages to other contractors including the San Juan-Chama project."