Bingaman introduces ‘SECURE Water Act’
But future water security a question

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman has introduced the “SECURE Water Act” to address some of the serious water-related challenges facing New Mexico and the United States. “Water is a precious and scarce resource, especially in the Southwest,” Bingaman said.

“Much more needs to be done to ensure that sufficient supplies of quality water are available to meet the basic needs of Americans, as well as for important economic and environmental uses.”

The legislation is designed to facilitate the improvement of water management by the Bureau of Reclamation and takes into account the impacts of global climate change on water resources – something not considered in BOR’s 2007 Hydrologic Determination which found sufficient water to support the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. Bingaman also is sponsoring that legislation.

Reports from the last several seasons indicate that increasing temperatures are resulting in less snowpack and more rain in many regions, changing the timing of snow-melt runoff and underscoring the need for more data.

At a recent hearing on climate change and water held by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which Bingaman chairs, the U.S. Geological Survey indicated that current climate models also are projecting a long-term drying trend in the Southwest – the fastest growing region in the country.

Bingaman’s bill requires an expansion of the National Streamflow Information Program and the development of a systematic groundwater monitoring program, and directs the USGS to formally establish a water use and availability assessment program consistent with recommendations made by the National Research Council.

It also would require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Energy to increase the acquisition and analysis of water-related data to assess the long-term availability of water resources for irrigation, hydroelectric power, municipal, environmental uses, and other purposes.

For Navajo families living in the New Mexico portion of the reservation, who still must haul water for personal use and for livestock, the availability of water is a big question, especially in light of a revival of the uranium mining industry.

While Cold War-era mining left them with a legacy of abandoned mines and contaminated lands, many fear that the new wave of in-situ recovery of uranium – which depends on water – will leave them and their grandchildren without a safe supply to meet their personal needs.

There are a number of pending applications on file with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer requesting water for proposed uranium mining operations in McKinley County, where Gallup is facing a critical water shortage and is depending on the Navajo-Gallup and the G-22 well projects to meet future needs.

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, a major proponent of nuclear energy and mining in the Grants Mineral Belt as well as co-sponsor of Bingaman’s “Science and Engineering to Comprehensively Understand and Responsibly Enhance Water Act” (SECURE Water Act), has said he would not back the Navajo Nation’s proposed settlement of water claims in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico unless it includes water for Gallup.

On Tuesday, Domenici announced his support for a $300,000 grant application on behalf of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources to fund a mapping project to characterize the geology of certain regions in New Mexico.

The Rio Grande Compact – a treaty signed in 1938 between the United States, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas – equitably apportioned the waters of the Rio Grande Basin. According to the Interbasin Compact Commission in Colorado, all of the water in the basin is overappropriated.

Last Friday, Uranium Resources Inc. of Texas announced that it had entered into an agreement with BHP Billiton to acquire 100 percent ownership of Rio Algom Mining LLC. The purchase includes an NRC-licensed mill site with associated water rights in the historic Ambrosia Lake District, 20 miles north of Grants.

URI said the mill will be capable of processing all of the remaining conventional ore in the Grants Mineral Belt, which could total 200 to 300 million pounds Uranium-308.

Hydro Resources Inc., a subsidiary of URI, has a pending application request on file with the State Engineer’s Office for up to 650 acre-feet per year of groundwater for consumptive use and up to 650 acre-feet per year diversion for its West Largo in-situ uranium recovery project in McKinley County. Another application seeks the same amount for HRI’s Roca Honda project, also in McKinley County.