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Thursday, February 3, 2005

Valley Water Group Gears Up

By Kathy Louise Schuit
Mountain View Telegraph
    The Estancia Valley has no intention of ever again being caught with its guard down when it comes to water.
    After the Santa Fe City Council on Jan. 26 rejected a controversial proposal to export billions of gallons of Estancia Basin water to thirsty city residents, valley dwellers breathed a collective sigh of relief.
    Then they went on the offensive.
    The Estancia Basin Resource Association (EBRA), a group formed initially to combat the water raid threat, has swelled its ranks to more than 200 members since its first membership meeting Jan. 14.
    President Art Swenka said Monday that EBRA is an action association and, with the defeat of the proposed water deal, has shifted its focus to the coming political struggle necessary to protect the basin's water future.
    "There are many fronts being worked on," he said.
    With its fired-up mayor, Adan Encinias, at the helm, Moriarty took the lead Jan. 25 in voting municipal support for EBRA efforts. City leaders agreed to contribute $16,000 to the EBRA treasury.
    Edgewood Mayor Robert Stearley said Monday his town's council was set to vote Wednesday night on a similar measure that would see $18,000 sent to EBRA.
    Estancia Mayor Marty Hibbs and Don Shockey, mayor of Mountainair, have also agreed to approach their respective communities for EBRA funding, Swenka said.
    All the local mayors sit on the 15-member EBRA board of directors.
    Besides municipal funding, EBRA has so far collected more than $5,000 in member dues and donations. Annual dues are $20.
    Although Swenka said the EBRA board has no current plans for spending the money it's raised, the group is wasting no time in lobbying for political support of new state laws that would prevent exportation of water from the Estancia Basin.
    Swenka said he and other board members will visit the governor this week.
    Although the group has no specific expectation from the governor, Swenka said, they will remind him of his past declarations of support for rural New Mexico.
    He said they will also attempt to discuss the legal concept of "the public welfare"— a hot topic that will likely become the core issue as growing cities begin to assess their own water future.
    "Public welfare has to be defined and proven," Swenka said.
    In his duties regarding the dispersal of the state's water supply, state law gives the state engineer one primary guiding principle: His decisions must be in the public welfare.
    What exactly that means is open to interpretation, Swenka said.
    What's needed, he said, is a clear definition of public welfare that protects the needs of rural communities equally with those of cities.
    Swenka said one solution for the Estancia Valley is to promote more business to move into the area.
    "Let's get business to come in here and leave the water here," he said. "We just need to keep it (water) here."
    The Estancia Valley has a lot to offer new and expanding businesses, including plenty of available acreage, accessibility to a major interstate highway and an eager work force, Swenka said.
    On the legislative front, state Sens. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas, and Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park, have teamed up to introduce a Senate Memorial bill in support of the valley's efforts to protect its water from future raids, Swenka said.
    A new twist on protecting the basin is also under consideration by EBRA board members.
    Acequias in Torreon and Manzano are fed by streams that eventually make their way to the Estancia Basin, Swenka said. Falling basin water levels could ultimately cause reduced flow in the streams as the water is drawn lower and lower into the basin, he said.
    State resolutions already exist to protect the acequias.
    "It's another avenue that's being looked at," Swenka said.
    In addition to the efforts of their board, EBRA members have formed many committees devoted to securing Estancia Basin water now and in the future, he said.
    A membership committee will continue the drive toward EBRA expansion. The government relations committee will watch the Legislature as well as city council and county commission agendas for any untoward interest in Estancia Basin water, Swenka said.
    Another committee is working on an overall basin water plan that incorporates the plans of the basin municipalities, Torrance County and the Estancia Basin Water Planning Committee, he said.
    "I don't think for a minute that the threat of water leaving the basin is going to go away," he said.
    As president, Swenka said, his biggest current challenge is to keep the membership energized.
    He said he was "astonished at the level of participation (EBRA received) in a matter of a few days." He intends to work to keep the basin's residents active and involved in the actions that will decide their future by determining where their water flows.
    The price of vigilance
    Group seeks funds to continue fighting for valley's water rights 2