Preserving NM In the News

At the request of the Southwest New Mexico Stakeholder Group, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) has developed a draft framework to guide the planning process under the Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA), entitled “Arizona Water Settlements Act New Mexico Process Framework.”

The draft document will be reviewed at the Stakeholder Group’s next meeting on June 21.

The AWSA planning process was established in October 2007 to determine how best to utilize the AWSA in a cost-effective manner to balance historical and future demand for water against uncertain supply while protecting the environment.

The New Mexico Process Framework will provide a planning structure to:

• Conduct comprehensive baseline studies to identify current and future water supply and demand in the four-county area of southwestern New Mexico;
  

• Identify a broad and balanced range of water supply alternatives that close the gap between supply and demand and evaluate each with a common and agreed upon set of criteria.

The Process Framework will guide development of a needs assessment documenting the region’s current water sources and uses, baseline biological and watershed conditions, future projected water demand, and water development alternatives. Alternatives will then be categorized and screened to eliminate those options with fatal flaws based on a set of yet-to-be-defined criteria (e.g., technical, social, economic, environmental, institutional, and legal feasibility; acceptability to public; costs; risk and uncertainty; etc.) Based on this screening analysis, alternatives will be selected for further development and analysis.

The next meeting of the Southwest New Mexico Stakeholder Group will be Saturday, June 21, 2008, in the Grant County Administration Center, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.