Font ResizeLAS CRUCES - Going into this year's growing season, some Dona Ana County farmers are concerned.
The Elephant Butte Irrigation District has yet to formalize the water allotment - the amount farmers can expect to receive throughout the year. Now is the time growers are making key decisions about whether to plant in given fields and which crops to grow.
Still other growers are anxiously eyeing the adjacent El Paso irrigation district, questioning why farmers there are scheduled to receive much more water.
The EBID board of directors, responsible for setting the annual allotment, met last week, but did not vote on a start date for the irrigation season or set an allocation.
At the end of the last irrigation season, EBID didn't have much water accredited to it in storage at Elephant Butte Lake, the major reservoir for both Do-a Ana County and El Paso farmers. That means EBID is relying heavily on snowfall this winter in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, runoff that feeds the Rio Grande each spring.
EBID board member Ramon "Dosi" Alvarez, who represents the southern part of the county, said the board is waiting for more certainty about how much snowfall will occur and how much runoff it can expect before declaring an allocation. The district has just 20,000 acre-feet of water in storage at the lake, and it might benefit from relinquished water from New Mexico users farther north, he said.
Alvarez said the initial discussion is that EBID farmers will receive
"It depends on if we don't get any snow in February, which has been pretty bleak, and what kind of amount, as to whether we set the date back a little bit," he said.
The board, however, has yet to finalize that.
There are 12 acre-inches in an acre-foot, which amounts to about 326,000 gallons, enough to supply one to two U.S. households in a year. EBID considers a full allotment for a season to be 3 acre-feet per acre.
Alvarez said the district's supply in the lake actually improved somewhat recently because of a corrected measurement error.
La Mesa area farmer Bobby Ortega said that the lack of information is making farming decisions difficult. He said he doesn't know whether he should keep fields without groundwater pumps fallow or maybe plant more cotton, a less water-intensive crop, instead of alfalfa.
"We have no clue how much water we're going to get," he said. "I'm in limbo right now; it's a major concern."
In addition, knowing the start date and possible end date for the irrigation season is other key information, Ortega said. He said he's halted ground preparation work on fields without groundwater wells because of the uncertainty.
The board is likely to vote on the allocation at its March meeting, Alvarez said. In addition, he said, the district is planning a series of information sessions, likely for Hatch, Las Cruces and the southern part of the county, which will be announced.
Outlook
Saturday, the Upper Rio Grande Basin, a major basin that feeds the river, contained about 93 percent of average snowpack for this time of year, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service website.
This month's storms improved snow levels, but the season hasn't ended, said Wayne Sleep, snow surveyor with NRCS. The snowpack potentially could build through February and March, and even into April.
Whether that will happen, though, remains to be seen.
"We're still below average, and with the predictions for a somewhat warm and dry spring, I don't think we'll improve much."
Disparity?
Currently, El Paso farmers have about 275,000 acre-feet in leftover water stored at Elephant Butte Lake, said Jesus "Chuy" Reyes, general manager of the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1. If the district were to allocate that now - without the additional water that will come from runoff - along with the water that comes from the district's ground wells and reclamation water from the city of El Paso, farmers would get about 3.5 acre-feet per acre for the season, he said.
How did the two districts end up with so much difference between water storage levels?
The situation stems partly from a 2008 legal settlement between EBID and El Paso irrigators about how water would be apportioned between the two districts. Prior to the settlement, water was split with a certain percentage going to El Paso district and a certain percentage going to EBID in a given year. At the end of the season, any unused stored water from either district went back into the same distribution pot, to be divvied up according to the set ratio in the following year.
But since the settlement, each district accounts for its own water year-to-year. So if one district stores more a certain year, none of the carryover goes to the other district the next year.
Reyes said El Paso farmers have the 275,000 acre-feet because of saved water they have accrued since the settlement. It's helpful because of the poor runoff forecast, he said.
"It's a tough situation for everyone," he said. "Thank God we had this carryover, which let us start in a good position this year."
At the time of the settlement, EBID officials said some of the biggest advantages were that it headed off a drawn-out lawsuit that could have cost the state of New Mexico millions, since downstream states usually prevail in such proceedings, and that Do-a Ana County farmers were able to retain the use of their groundwater wells to supplement short river water years, something that could have been at risk.
Alvarez emphasized that the settlement avoided a repeat of a situation that occurred with Carlsbad irrigators on the Pecos River. When Texas sued and won, New Mexico wound up having to buy out farmers' acreage and leave it fallow permanently in order to curtail surface water use. Valuable farming land was lost, he said.
"They were fixing to sue us, and if that would have happened, we would have had to do what they did in Carlsbad," he said.
Alvarez acknowledged he's fielded plenty of calls from southern Do-a Ana County farmers, who are wondering why Texans are getting a greater water supply.
"We see that water going down the canal, and we can't use it, and it's very frustrating," he said. "I tell them to bear with us, and we'll see if we can get through it."
Dick Salopek, who farms pecans north of Las Cruces, said the settlement agreement is a "workable" arrangement in which both sides gave up something.
"We think it's a good deal. Texas thinks it's a good deal. You won't win going to courts," he said.
Salopek said if this year's allotment does end up being 16 acre-inches, that's "very encouraging," and he'll have to rely on groundwater pumping to make up the difference.
"Naturally, I'd like to have our full allocation of 3 acre-feet because surface water is so much better anyway," he said.
Diana M. Alba can be reached at (575) 541-5443
On the Web: The Elephant Butte Irrigation District is online at ebid-nm.org.
