The Santa Fe River will get a small share of the city's water supply this year despite the ongoing drought.

The City Council voted Wednesday to approve a plan for releasing up to 300 acre-feet of water from upstream reservoirs as part of the "living river" initiative. The planned release will mostly be a consistent trickle, but will include several weeklong pulses intended to wet the riverbed as far away from the reservoirs as possible.

"This is just a little bit of water," Mayor David Coss said before the vote. "There are historic, cultural, economic and ecological reasons to make our river healthier than it is now."

Although several councilors expressed reservations about the idea, including whether it will put more pressure on wells, only Councilor Miguel Chavez voted against the resolution. He said several constituents have called him in recent weeks because they don't agree with the city's planting in the riparian area.

"We need to be cautious of where we are going with this," he said, adding later, "Is the amount of planting that we are doing natural? Is it really setting us up for failure?"

Councilor Chris Calvert said his constituents told him they support the release. "I don't think this is that much to ask," Calvert said. "People have told me, 'I don't mind conserving water, but I don't want to see it all go to building.' "

Councilor Matthew Ortiz voted in favor of the resolution but said he didn't want the city to make a decision to put water in the river at the expense of delivering to customers' taps, or if it meant more pumping of groundwater wells.

The resolution approved Wednesday states that city water staff can curtail the flows in those situations. And councilors directed the water division to avoid groundwater pumping in the case of such an emergency.

This year's snowpack across the mountain ranges was a little more than half the average, and water-supply managers say current inflow to the reservoirs is about 25 percent of the average between 1966 and 2007.

For the first time, much of the city's annual water supply is expected to come from a Rio Grande diversion project that came online this year.

Although the resolution approved Wednesday applies to the next year, river advocates and city staff have been working on a proposed ordinance to establish river flows in perpetuity.

Felicity Broennan, director of the Santa Fe Watershed Association nonprofit, said she was pleased with the decision but emphasized that a long-term policy would be better.

An acre-foot is enough water to support three households for a year. It's equal to 325,851 gallons. The city's water-customer demand last year was about 10,000 acre-feet.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.