D'ANTONIO FOR STATE REP
57
Monday Morning in Rio Rancho
Dear Neighbor,
I am running in House District 57 for State Representative, and I am reaching out to ask for your support. As former New Mexico State Engineer under 3 different governors, a cabinet-level position with the authority over all surface and groundwater in New Mexico, as well as the Commissioner on the Upper Colorado River and Rio Grande Compact Commissions, this letter will provide you with my experience managing water within and outside of New Mexico, my thoughts on the water supply issues confronting our state and Rio Rancho, as well as my proposals on ensuring a safe and sustainable future water supply.
Got Water?
Do you know where your future water will come from? Do you have a sustainable water supply that assures your property values will continue to increase? Is Rio Rancho positioned to continue its current growth while keeping up with its infrastructure needs and water demands for the fastest growing city in New Mexico? These questions and many others need to be addressed by someone who has the vision, experience, and qualifications to help protect existing residents from these future risks.
New Mexico has a finite supply of water, and the gap between available supply and demand is expected to grow. Over the past several decades, there has been increased competition for New Mexico’s water between municipalities, agriculture, industry, endangered species, and tribal claims, to name a few. In addition, most projections by New Mexico’s most qualified scientists and water experts predict that over the next 50 years, New Mexico will have approximately 25% less water available in its rivers and aquifers.
How is Rio Rancho Doing?
Rio Rancho depends solely on groundwater for its domestic water supply, and it has its straw in the same aquifer that supplies water to cities, towns, and pueblos within the Middle Rio Grande Basin, including Albuquerque, Belen, Los Lunas, Bernalillo, Corrales, Bosque Farms, and the Sandia, Isleta, and Santa Ana Pueblos.
Rio Rancho was a bedroom community when the San Juan Chama Project was federally- authorized in the early 1960s and later constructed; its purpose was to provide renewable trans-basin Colorado River water to communities in the Middle Rio Grande. Federal contracts reserved water for several communities, irrigation districts, and tribal entities, including the cities of Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Espanola, Belen, Taos, Los Lunas, Bernalillo, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, the Jicarilla Apache Tribe, and others—but not Rio Rancho.
Over the past 20 years, I have assisted the City of Rancho in obtaining and then protecting their water rights. In 2003, the first year I was appointed the New Mexico State Engineer, I approved the City’s water right application that doubled their water rights. However, this permit had conditions that required the City to acquire scheduled valid existing water rights to offset the effects of their pumping on the Rio Grande’s water supply.
I also assisted the City of Rio Rancho in obtaining their underground storage and recovery permit from the Office of the State Engineer and, during my time as senior level civilian with the US Army Corps of Engineers, I helped provide funding for their advanced water treatment and direct injection facility that is used to safely replenish the underlying aquifer with a purified, reclaimed water source, therefore, extending the City’s water supply. But much more needs to be done!
Texas v New Mexico & Other Threats
Over the last 20 years, I have worked with the NM Legislative and Executive Branches to protect New Mexico’s water from challenges from the State of Texas. In 2003, as the New Mexico State Engineer and Secretary of the NM Interstate Stream Commission, we were able utilize a collaborative and consensus-building effort among 16 different stakeholder groups to develop solutions to our state’s under-delivery problems to Texas on the Pecos River. I also worked collaboratively with the NM Attorney General’s Office to pass and diligently implement an Active Water Resource Management statute in 2003, which has proven to be the backbone of New Mexico’s defense in the current Texas v New Mexico’s U.S. Supreme Court case on the Rio Grande.
Outside threats to Rio Rancho’s water supply will only increase in the years to come as the City will have to continue to meet and defend its 2003 permit conditions. Challenges from Texas and the Lower Rio Grande communities will continue as they look upstream to the Middle Rio Grande. As mentioned above, the San Juan Chama contract water that so many communities rely upon is under threat by the possibility of having to share surface water shortages with other states within the Colorado River Basin, which may mean more reliance on our shared aquifer for our domestic water supply. Moreover, our pueblos to the north along the Rio Grande are still in the process of quantifying their rightful water rights claims, which could further reduce the quantity of water upon which municipalities currently rely.
Innovative Opportunities & Technologies
So how will we address these concerns? Besides continuing to implement conservation measures, we will need a multi-pronged approach using new technology and engineering solutions to address these enormous challenges. New sources of water using treated brackish water can provide part of the solution, as well as advanced treatment systems for water reuse and expansion of the current treatment and direct injection facility being used by the City. Ultimately, the Middle Rio Grande Basin may need to consider importing bulk water from outside sources using sound water policy, local/state/federal funding, collaborative negotiations and problem solving to adequately address its sustainability challenges over the next 50 to 100 years.
And, much more needs to be done to provide a sustainable and safe water supply for our growing area. As your next NM State Representative for District 57, I will continue to help protect Rio Rancho’s water rights and work with city, county, state, and federal officials to explore and fund innovative opportunities and technologies to allow for responsible growth and economic productivity, while assuring sustainability for all. Without a reliable source of water, Rio Rancho and New Mexico cannot continue to thrive and reach its full potential.
Agua Es Vida
Agua es Vida—“water is life”—has been a defining mantra for me. Water should not be politicized. Everyone, regardless of their background, deserves a sustainable and safe water supply, just like they deserve the dignity of opportunity—a safe community, a good education, reliable infrastructure, and a thriving economy. And, without water, without these basics, there is no life. And that is the approach I will be taking to Santa Fe.
Please check out my website for more information about my personal and professional biographies and platform. Reach out to me if you have any questions or would like to visit with me to discuss issues that are important to you. And, please get out and vote! Early voting starts May 7th, and election day is June 4th.
Thank you for your time.
Kindest Regards,
John D.
