By Hannah Grover

Posted May 16, 2024

 

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced on May 11, that $60 million of federal funding will go to efforts to improve water conservation and increase drought resiliency in the Rio Grande Basin starting at Elephant Butte Reservoir and heading south into Texas.

 

Haaland, who is a native New Mexican and a member of Laguna Pueblo, announced the funding during an event at the Open Space Visitors Center in Albuquerque.

 

The federal funding comes through the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $500 million for water management and conservation efforts in areas outside of the Colorado River Basin that are experiencing the impacts of climate change in the form of drought.

 

However, Haaland’s announcement last Friday represents the first time that the federal government has announced funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for water management and conservation projects outside of the Colorado River Basin.

 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Department of the Interior plan to announce funding for other basins throughout the summer and fall.

 

“This $60 million, which is the first investment in a river system outside of the Colorado River, will help our communities get through these devastating impacts of drought and climate change, but also will help us to navigate the deeply difficult challenges we face in delivering water through our interstate river compact,” U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat who represents New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, said during the press conference.

 

Stansbury was referencing the legal dispute between Texas and New Mexico that resulted in a potential settlement pending U.S. Supreme Court approval.

 

“Right now, we are seeing unprecedented cooperation between the states of New Mexico, Colorado and Texas in trying to come up with collaborative solutions,” she said.

 

She said the $60 million of Inflation Reduction Act money will help irrigation districts, farmers and ranchers as well as other water users “so that we can make good on those assurances, and those commitments that we made in the past to deliver water to our neighbors.”

 

Haaland recalls lessons from childhood

 

During the May 11^th event, Haaland spoke about hauling water with her grandmother when she was young.

 

“My grandmother would not waste a single drop of water not only because of the care it took to bring the water to her house, but also because she was teaching us how precious water is in the desert,” Haaland said.

 

She went on to speak about the Rio Grande, which she said does not just impact one community. She said that people have an obligation to use the water wisely whether they live in cities or Tribal communities or are farmers or ranchers. Furthermore, she said people need to manage the water resources “with every community in mind, work collaboratively and respect each other.”

 

The funding announced last week will help with efforts to increase storage at existing sediment dams. It will also assist with new storage capacity located off of the Rio Grande channel that will capture stormwater that can be used to recharge the aquifer. This will help reduce the demands for irrigation water and improve or create riparian habitat for threatened and endangered species, including the yellow-billed cuckoo and the southwest willow flycatcher.

 

The money will also go toward projects to improve the efficiency of the existing irrigation infrastructure and to fund the voluntary forbearance and fallowing programs.

 

State, federal government partner on efforts

 

The funding comes as climate change has led to a pattern known as aridification in the western United States.

 

“As we all know, the Rio Grande is the lifeblood of this state,” Interstate Stream Commission Director Hannah Riseley-White said during the press conference. “And I think it’s important to recognize that what we do today, the choices we make today will impact potentially generations to come.”

 

She noted that the federal funding complements $65 million of state funding for the Lower Rio Grande Basin as well as another $30 million of state funding for the Middle Rio Grande.

 

“That partnership between the state funding and the federal funding is going to be critical to address the challenges that we’re facing,” she said.

 

State Engineer Mike Hamman said the partnership that’s developed between the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the state will be “bolstered tremendously” by both the $65 million of state money that has been allocated by the legislature and the federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.

 

“We’ll have $125 million of funds to get us started addressing these serious water shortage problems and to get us into a sustainable balanced operation between the surface water and groundwater systems,” he told NM Political Report.

 

Climate change and federal investments

 

Stansbury emphasized the need for the federal funding amidst climate change.

 

“Over the last several decades, New Mexico has been experiencing the worst drought in recorded modern history,” Stansbury said. “And another way for saying that is climate change. New Mexico and the Rio Grande are ground zero for climate change.”

 

She said that can be seen in the form of less snowpack, diminished flows in rivers and the drying of the Rio Grande during summer months.

 

Rebecca Roose, the governor’s infrastructure advisor, said that 50 years from now New Mexico is expected to have 25 percent less water.

 

She spoke about how the federal funding will help New Mexico, including improving outcomes for irrigators and protecting ecosystems.

 

The Inflation Reduction Act and elections

 

The funding announcement also highlighted how elections can have direct impacts on communities.

 

“We are also fortunate that at this moment in history, not only are we facing unprecedented challenges, we have unprecedented leadership, and leadership matters,” Stansbury said.

 

She highlighted the passage not only of the Inflation Reduction Act—which is the biggest investment in addressing climate change in history—but also to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that, as of March, had brought around $1 billion to New Mexico for water infrastructure.

 

The conservative think tank Heritage Foundation has released Project 2025, which outlines steps for Republican lawmakers to take should they win the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and should Donald Trump win the presidential election. Among those initiatives is the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act.

 

Stansbury said that the biggest threat to the steps that have been taken to address climate change is the possibility of Trump being elected as president once again.

 

“But it’s very clear that if he is reelected for a second term, the former president plans to rollback every possible climate investment,” she said, adding that Trump rolled back climate investments during his past tenure as president.

 

She pointed to news that Trump is seeking $1 billion from oil company executives and plans to dismantle President Joe Biden’s fossil fuel regulations.

 

However, she said clawing back money from the Inflation Reduction Act would require Congress’ cooperation “which is why this election for both the Senate and the House are also very important to safeguard our investments in climate change.”

 

 

Hannah Grover is an Environment Reporter with New Mexico Political Report. This article was originally published by New Mexico Political Report.