WildEarth Guardians

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Preventing disruptions of critical Rio Grande flows

Protest to Application filed by City of Rio Rancho and the Center for Educational Initiatives; Protest to Application filed by City of Rio Rancho and Bosque del Sol, LLC
Status
Settled, Settlement reached
Case No.
SD-07396-E and SD-08707 (into RG RG-6745 et al.)
Date Filed
February 6, 2018
State, Venue
New Mexico, Office of the State Engineer
Lawyers
Samantha Ruscavage-Barz
Program
Rivers
In late February 2018, Guardians filed two protests against applications submitted to the New Mexico State Engineer by the city of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, to divert significant volumes of water for use by the city. Rio Rancho, just north of Albuquerque, is the third-largest city in New Mexico and is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan centers in the state. The applications being challenged are the most recent of more than seven that the city has submitted between 2017 and early 2018. The proposed diversions threaten water flows in the Middle Rio Grande, which would negatively affect crucial habitat for threatened and endangered species and gravely change the way that many residents in the area interact with the river. Diminished flows in the Middle Rio Grande would also impede the ability of New Mexico to meet its water delivery obligations to Texas under the Rio Grande Compact, which could lead to costly litigation.

WildEarth Guardians, Pueblo of Isleta, Pueblo of Santa Ana, Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation finalized an agreement with City of Rio Rancho to protect a living Rio Grande and resolve objections to these and several other similar applications to transfer water from downstream farm uses to upstream municipal purposes. The City agreed to dedicate a portion of its pre-1907 water rights acquired through water transfers from farms over the years to bolster river flows and to provide funding to and support habitat restoration efforts along the river. The City committed to donating a minimum of 2,500 acre-feet (815 million gallons) of water per year to the State’s strategic water reserve to support flows in the Santa Ana and Isleta reaches of the middle Rio Grande solely for the benefit of riverine habitat, the Bosque, and endangered species recovery. The parties also agreed to cooperatively work to fund, design, and, construct restoration projects along the middle Rio Grande that would also benefit the river ecosystem and imperiled species, and to undertake cooperative efforts to address challenges facing the river, to ensure long-term water planning, and to reform state water policy.

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