On August 2, the New Mexico State Engineer dismissed a second attempt by Augustin Plains Ranch to push through a speculative scheme for mining groundwater in central New Mexico.
Guardians, farmers, ranchers, and local communities protested the Ranch’s scheme to pump and transport 54,000 acre-feet of water to unidentified users in the Rio Grande valley in 2016. The protest stemmed from our concern that water pumped from beneath the San Augustin Plains could deplete flows in Alamosa Creek, the Gila River, and the Rio Grande.
The decision is a step in the right direction toward learning to live within our means—and within rivers’ means.
Read the press release.
