Overview
The
Middle Rio Grande
Water Supply Study, Phase 3,
projected for the Middle Rio Grande Basin (the Jemez y Sangre, MRG, and
Socorro-Sierra regions
between Otowi Gage and Elephant
Butte Dam) a likely scenario – with full implementation of all mutually
compatible alternatives
in all of the regional water plans –
resulting in an average RG Compact deficit of 7,100 acre-feet per year.
This scenario
simply adopts the hugely
over-ambitious assumptions built into the plans themselves about
achievable water savings from implementing
those alternatives. Under more
realistic assumptions, given the variations in supply, a Compact default
does not seem unlikely.
This constitutes a collective
problem for the three regions affected; to address it realistically
requires collaboration among
all interested parties in these
regions. They have a choice: to engage proactively in finding solutions,
or to cede control
of their water destiny to others.
The
project, with major
support from the McCune Charitable
Foundation, initially consisted of a series of three professionally
facilitated one-day
workshops, involving a wide spectrum
of stakeholder interests in the regions including local public
officials. Regional water
planning committees selected their
own participants. Pueblo
representatives were chosen separately because their
interests had not been effectively
represented in the development of the regional plans. Participants
explored the coordination
problem and the collective dilemma
they faced in how to share the limited renewable supply available within
the Basin.
Originally,
the project
was to develop a “white paper” – a
working document to be shared with regional planning committees,
the ISC RWP-SWP Ad Hoc Committee,
and others, describing a proposed mechanism for (1) revisiting and
resolving conflicts in
the recommendations of the three
RWPs, and (2) negotiating about specific inter-regional transfer
applications. The project
has moved well beyond this stage,
and (as of January 2008)is in the process of finalizing a "scope of
work" for inter-regional
cooperation, as described below.
Rationale
Assumptions,
whether by
public officials or other interested
parties, that a region, jurisdiction, or sector of society can pursue
its perceived self-interest
without regard to the impacts of its
decisions on the whole – in this case, the Middle Rio Grande Basin
(encompassing
the reach between the Otowi Gage and
Elephant Butte Reservoir) – seem likely to have the opposite effect,
leaving all
parties worse off.
The
primary example of
this is a potential under delivery
of water to Texas in violation of the Rio Grande Compact. A default on
the Compact stands
out because it is easy to measure,
and because the consequences (at least the immediate ones) are
predictable and would have
major impacts on the residents
dependent on waters of the Basin. But there are other consequences of
chronic, unmanaged shortages
of water – even if there were no
Compact default – to local rural and urban economies, to the
sustainability of
the Basin’s ecosystem, and therefore
ultimately to the livability of our communities.
The
regional water plans
of the three regions within the
Basin took major steps, enabling those involved in their development to
understand the sources
and limits of their regions’ supply,
the nature of current demand on that supply, and the projected future
demand over
a 40-year horizon. The planning
process also allowed the people in each region to state, given these
understandings, what
values they wished to promote in the
allocation of that supply – how the “public welfare” of their regions
would be enhanced by favoring some
strategies over others.
Though regional
water plans tried to deal with supply and demand issues within their regions, they did not overcome the problem of
inter-regional coordination. We
also lack institutions
for ensuring that the regional water
planning alternatives are implemented, much less the conflicts
addressed. This project
is an important element in
understanding and creating the necessary conditions for successful
implementation of regional water
plans, especially where such
inter-regional conflicts exist. It will enable affected interests and
jurisdictions within the
three MRG planning regions to learn
about the conflicts and complementarities in their plans and to identify
and recommend
ways to work together to increase
cooperation and resolve conflicts.
The
Initial Workshop Series (Summer-Fall 2006)
The
major work of
this project was planned for three
workshop sessions. These were held on Monday, June 26, Tuesday, August
22, and Tuesday,
September 26. (The agendas and
summaries of these workshops, along with background materials, can be
reviewed by clicking
on appropriate links below.) The
organizers anticipated that based on common understanding of the
physical and
institutional dimensions of the
problem developed in the first meeting, the second would focus on
developing alternative strategies
for addressing the issues and the
third on specific recommendations, to be embodied in the “white paper.”
This
proved to be too optimistic. The Dialogue report on the workshops discusses the reasons.
Follow-up:
an ongoing dialogue
A
sub-group of workshop
participants met several times
between November 2006 and June 2007 under the auspices of the Utton
Transboundary Resources
Center at the UNM School of Law to
develop a proposed work plan to continue the cooperative efforts begun
in the workshops.
A fourth workshop was held in August
2007 and relevant materials are posted below.
