Farmers from Eastern New Mexico showed up at a city Public Utilities Committee meeting Wednesday to voice both objections and support for a privately owned pipeline that would deliver water from Fort Sumner to the City Different.

Berrendo LLC and its principal, Ron Green, have filed applications with the Office of the State Engineer to pipe groundwater 150 miles uphill to Santa Fe.

The water would be sold to end users in the Santa Fe area, and some public infrastructure would be used to deliver it.

The city hasn't taken a position on the project because the necessary water-rights transfers are pending.

The Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District has filed a protest against the project. Greg Alpers, who as a Dow Agro Sciences sales representative makes his living in agriculture, asked councilors to consider the point of view of the district, which participated in lengthy legal wrangling to balance water rights with available water in the area for the Pecos River Compact.

"Things are where they should be. Any water out of our basin potentially could upset this delicate equation," he said.

Artesia farmer Bill Netherlin agreed. "Really, as New Mexicans, we need to look toward the future," he said. "We are all in this boat together and we don't need to take water out of an area that has worked so hard and spent all this money to bring in to balance."

Other farmers and their families, however, are eager to sell their water rights to Green. In a letter to the council, Glenda Armstrong of Peters Properties LLC, one of four De Baca County water-rights owners interesting in selling, wrote, "We purchased these water rights like you purchased your home or business — with hard earned money and dreams. Once anyone starts forcing you to give up your land or water rights to meet someone else's dreams or ideas, we have lost one of our basic freedoms."

She noted that factors such as increasing costs for production and advanced age of many farmers led families to make the decisions to attempt the transfer. She also wrote that her family is motivated to improve the economy in the region and couldn't pass up the offer to sell some of their water rights.

Green said Wednesday that his private funding for the project is still in place, but it will likely be several months before the state engineer sets a hearing date on the water-rights transfers.

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