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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Water Panel Adviser Pushes for Tangible Goals

By Laura Nesbitt /
Mountain View Telegraph
      The new technical adviser for the Estancia Basin Water Planning Committee arrived at his first meeting in his new position seemingly well-prepared.
       On April 17, David Chace, principal of Hydro Resolutions LLC and senior member of the technical staff of Sandia National Laboratories, handed members two documents totaling about 20 pages called “Estancia Basin Regional Water Plan Update Outline” and “Estancia Basin Regional Water Plan Update Interim Deliverable #1” that members then focused on.
       “In my opinion, we’re obligated to provide status on those items,” Chace said, referring to highlighted items in the two documents that he called goals and recommended actions taken from the 1999 Estancia Basin regional water plan.
       “If progress was made, you need to take credit for that,” he said.
       Likewise, if progress was not made, members needed to explain why, Chace said.
       The committee then spent a large portion of the rest of the meeting discussing the first 10 or so highlighted items on Chace’s handouts and considering whether the self-imposed goals had been met.
       Some of the progress items discussed included management programs, conservation programs and water development programs, including one conducted by Paul Davis from EnviroLogic and completed last year.
       After a year of research Davis concluded that thinning trees would not help save the Valley Fill aquifer, and in June told the committee as much.
       Last Thursday, members gave Chace feedback regarding their understanding of Davis’ assessment of water infiltration into the aquifer and how it related back to the progress made by the committee.
       “So there’s ambiguity within the committee of what it accomplished,” Chace said.
       Committee member Jim Rea, representing Edgewood Soil and Water Conservation District, said that because Davis’ research included only one point of reference, it only “suggests” no recharge right there “at that single point.”
       Chace said he had scheduled a meeting for next week with Angela Bordegaray, state water planner, and Jim Corbin, the committee’s previous technical adviser.
       “I’m hoping to pick their brains,” Chace said.
       The EBWPC “is dedicated to a deadline of June 30” for receiving a draft copy of the update of the water plan from Chace, said Ryan Schwebach, chairman of the board.
       After receiving the update, the next step would then be public comment, and then submitting the plan to the Office of the State Engineer for approval.
   

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