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The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (NMISC) is now accepting grant applications from members of the agricultural community that are willing to conserve groundwater in 2022-23, NMISC said in a news release. The deadline is Monday, Aug. 23.
Successful applicants will receive grant funding to temporarily stop the use of groundwater for
an 18-month period beginning Jan. 1, 2022, NMISC said.
The New Mexico Legislature appropriated $7 million to NMISC in 2020 to develop and fund water management. The grants are part of NMISC’s FY2020-FY23 water management pilot project for the Lower Rio Grande.
In the project’s first year, water conservation grants were provided to compensate irrigators for temporarily conserving groundwater by not irrigating previously irrigated parcels, NMISC said. Twenty-four grants totaling $865,000 were awarded to participants, encompassing 1,272 acres.
Groundwater-irrigated land is eligible for participation in the grant program if the irrigated acreage within the parcel is at least 10 acres in size, with partial and multiple parcels accepted as long as the 10-total acre requirement is met; the acreage has been irrigated with groundwater only, or with a combination of groundwater and surface water, for at least four years out of the five years 2016-2020; the water rights associated with the acreage are in good standing with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer (NMOSE); and other NMISC due diligence requirements are satisfied.
“Low reservoir levels and lingering drought are just two of the many water challenges NMOSE and NMISC are faced with across our state,” NMISC and NMOSE said in a July news release. “However, none is more profound than the pending litigation with Texas over water availability in the Lower Rio Grande. While this litigation works its way through the courts, there is no question that New Mexicans need to work together to maintain the productive aquifers in the Mesilla and Rincon valleys.”
The nine-member NMISC is charged with protecting New Mexico’s right to water under eight interstate stream compacts, and water planning. The State Engineer’s office administers the state’s water resources, with the state engineer serving as NMISC secretary.
