Editorial
By Bill Waters
John D'Antonio, to his credit - and that of Tom Turney, his predecessor as State Engineer - has urged the New Mexico Legislature to reform some of our water law.
Others have gone further than those guys in charge of the state's water: Former state Sen. Victor Marshall of Albuquerque, in a recent friend-of-the-court brief to our Court of Appeals, says what passes for water law today is an ongoing violation of rights: property rights, statutory rights and constitutional rights.
A couple of trial-court decisions lately seem to be saying the same - and that the pillage and oppression must stop. Unless our two appellate courts are more ensnared in the ol'-boy network than we thought, they'll come to similar conclusions.
It's long past time for the Legislature to act.
It'll take a top-to-bottom overhaul of today's high-handed policies and procedures - or lack of the latter.
Where to begin? With water itself: How much is there - on New Mexico's surface and below it? We need to know that before the next well, the next stream diversion is dug or, at least the sooner the better.
It's commonly thought that there are more water rights spoken for than there is water - and that's hard to argue with in this desert state.
Hydrologists for years have been looking at stream gauges and putting geological science to work. Reports gather dust in private and governmental offices. Trouble is, whoever's in charge of those offices has axes to grind.
It'll take someone independent of vested interests - independent and outside our borders - to make a credible estimate of New Mexico's water supplies.
How good are they in wet years? How bad in the dry ones?
How reliable are our underground supplies? How fast are they falling? How well are they being recharged?
We've got some good hydrologists in this state - but none that everyone can trust; any expert whose findings aren't what someone wants will be suspect.
The call for proposals should fend off anyone with state contracts, or angling for them. Same for federal Bureau of Reclamation contractors - past present or future. Good folks all - but keep 'em away from the rough inventory of water our state so long has needed, and take all their studies with a grain of salt.
Same for the Office of the State Engineer. It has filled the water-law vacuum created by unsupported courts for so long that its decisionmaking against senior water-rights holders - often couched in terms of compromises it had no business making - has seriously damaged its credibility. And of course, the state engineer is a gubernatorial appointee, so even if you're
as honest and courageous as Tom Turney, you're still suspect.
The farther from our borders this expert sits, the better.
This is beginning to sound like an impossible task, especially since whoever gets the job will be poring over records put together by people other people don't trust.
But what the Legislature should be looking for, at least as a start, is a good, honest guess - heavy on facts from the field - about our state's water situation. If the job's well done, he or she might attract business from other states.
For years, we've heard promises of a water inventory. Now that the courts seem to be getting serious about water rights that've been treated as jokes, our senators and representatives should also get serious. This estimate could cost plenty if drilling's involved, but it should carry timelines and deadlines to keep from turning the project into a career.
Any unconflicted lawmakers interested in an effort for which history will reward them?
