Official: Water right deals could be costly

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican

11/26/2007 -

State Engineer John D'Antonio told legislators Monday that it would take an estimated $300 million over 55 years to settle all the water rights claims on streams and rivers in the state, including the Middle Rio Grande.

For the fourth time in as many months, D'Antonio was grilled by members of the Water and Natural Resources Committee on what it will take to resolve who owns New Mexico's thousands of unadjudicated water rights and how much it will cost.

House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé, said it is a lot of money, but lawmakers want to see the state's water rights finally resolved as quickly as possible.

The millions of dollars are needed to finalize water rights in court, a process called adjudication. The money pays for attorneys, water surveys and notifying people who claim water rights, D'Antonio told the committee during a hearing at the Capitol.

If a river involves Indian water rights, like the Rio Grande and the San Juan River do, an adjudication becomes even more complicated.

Less than a fourth of the water rights in the state have been adjudicated. Even the Santa Fe River still has unresolved water rights.

Currently, the state has 12 ongoing adjudications, including in Pojoaque Valley, Taos, the San Juan River and the Lower Rio Grande. Some of those cases have been in court for more than three decades. D'Antonio said he estimates it will take about $6.3 million annually for 15 years to finish those adjudications. Some of that money ideally would go to add three more full-time attorneys to the 25 attorneys on the payroll, and four more technicians to handle hydrographic surveys.

Santa Fe Rep. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, asked what it would take to speed up the adjudications already under way and resolve them in a decade. D'Antonio said it would cost about $9.5 million a year.

"The longer we delay, the more expensive this gets," said Wirth, who is part of an adjudication subcommittee.

D'Antonio estimates it will take another $7 million a year for 40 years to resolve water rights in the Middle Rio Grande. "That is the mother of all adjudications in the state," he said.

The Middle Rio Grande encompasses more pueblos, more irrigated acres and New Mexico's largest city with thousands of potential defendants.

The adjudication price tag is steep, but water for city taps, economic growth and farming depend on who owns the state's water rights.

In theory, New Mexico's water is managed based on priority: First in time, first in use. Tribes and farmers who began using the water first have the senior rights; next in line are towns and other newcomers.

In reality, as cities have grown and water uses increased, senior water users have felt slighted, claiming they often don't get their full allocation of water.

Legally, the state engineer is supposed to make sure senior water rights holders get their water first, but in dry years that could mean shutting off the taps to junior users like cities.

D'Antonio is reluctant to do that. "I'm not going to shut off someone's drinking water or water for sanitary purposes. I don't think anyone wants that to happen," D'Antonio told the committee.

And he can't shut anyone off anyway until a judge decides who owns the water rights.

Legislators said the state engineer needs to bring them a firm outline for how the water rights cases will get finished if they get him the money.

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