Groups seek to keep Santa Fe River flowing

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican

12/4/2007 -

While the Santa Fe River was flowing steadily for more than two months this year, aquatic biologist Jerry Jacobi walked 10 miles along its banks from Canyon Road to the waste treatment plant.

"I was as excited as a kid to see water in the river," said Jacobi, a member of the city of Santa Fe's River Commission.

Like others on the appointed body, Jacobi would like to see water in the river a lot more often.

To that end, the commission, the city water division and the Santa Fe River Watershed Association are working on ideas for restoring regular flows to the river, which for decades has been at the mercy of reservoirs that trap its headwaters east of the city for general municipal use.

The three entities are co-hosting a town hall on Saturday to ask the public for suggestions and goals for the river.

While costs and trade-offs are involved, the organizers say they know a flow is possible, even if it is just a trickle.

Claudia Borchert, water project director for the city's water division, has more than 30 ideas for providing the water to make the river flow. Among them are increased conservation — in a city that already has low per-capita water use — storm water management and infiltration ponds.

City water utility staff members estimate that 1,000 acre feet of annual water saving is possible in the city's 40-year water budget through a combination of management choices. Santa Fe Mayor David Coss has suggested that water saved in this way be dedicated to river flows. That could amount to more than 320 million gallons of water going down the river every year.

Borchert said that questions for the community include: How much water should flow in the river? What are the trade-offs? How would the city get the necessary water into the river above Canyon Road so it can flow through town?

David Groenfeldt, executive director of the Watershed Association, said restoring flows would be good for people and the river. A living river, he said, would be another attraction for visitors and give residents a new source of pride.

The quest for environmental flows and living rivers is gaining attention around the world, Groenfeldt said. River flows usually translate into healthier aquifers and green belts, meaning more water and cleaner water for people and wildlife. In Australia, Spain and South Africa, it is illegal to dry up a river as Santa Fe has done with its namesake stream, he said .

Groenfeldt said one way to promote water use for environmental flow is to provide positive incentives, such as guaranteeing the water saved through conservation will go to the river. "At some point, the only way to have a living river is to commit to it," he said. "Otherwise, we just keep doing what we're doing, and we'll have a dry river like we do now."

Borchert said one advantage the city has is that the municipal water system is publicly owned. If it were still owned by Public Service Company of New Mexico, which sold it to the city in the mid-1990s, water managers would be concerned more with revenue than with keeping water flowing down the river.

Advocates of increased river flows helped convince the American Rivers conservation group this year to designate the Santa Fe River as the most endangered river in the country.

The town hall meeting will be a chance for the public to help brainstorm solutions for the river.

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

• What: Public meeting about returning a regular water flow to the Santa Fe River, sponsored by the city of Santa Fe water division, the Santa Fe River Commission and the Santa Fe River Watershed Association
• When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday
• Where: Genoveva Chavez Community Center, 3221 Rodeo Road