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New Mexico officials hope that buying water rights from farmers and shutting off their wells will be enough to comply with the recent Supreme Court settlement of a lawsuit over the Rio Grande.
However, if climate change continues to push dry conditions in the Rio Grande basin, the state’s initial voluntary measures are likely to fall short. New Mexico is expected to have 25 percent less water in 50 years due to rising temperatures.
And if the state has to make further reductions to water use, the potential of mandatory water cuts looms over the region. Major water users, such as farmers and the city of Las Cruces, are negotiating contingency plans behind closed doors. The Lower Rio Grande in New Mexico highlights how difficult it will be to fairly cut water use among farmers, industry and residents as the climate only gets hotter and drier.
The settlement “is going to change the way we view water and use water in the Lower Rio Grande in New Mexico,” said Norm Gaume, a former New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission director who now leads New Mexico Water Advocates. “It has huge consequences.”
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