NM - Farmers Relying On Elephant Butte Reservoir Should Prepare For Zero Allotments in 2021

[hatrack]

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This year, the U.S. Southwest is facing La Niña conditions, which will bring a drier than normal winter. Already, stream flows are below normal across the state and many reservoirs are nearly tapped out. In southern New Mexico, managers with the Elephant Butte Irrigation District have already warned farmers they should brace for a “zero allotment” of water in 2021.

An expert on water issues, state Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-Albuquerque) is leading the charge on climate change in the legislature. And during the 2021 session, she is introducing the Climate Resiliency and Security Act. “We’re already seeing the signs of climate change in our water supplies,” says Stansbury, who worked on Capitol Hill and for the federal Office of Management and Budget before returning home to New Mexico a few years ago and running for office. (Stansbury is also planning a run for U.S. Congress, to replace Rep. Deb Haaland, whom the Biden administration has nominated as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.)

And things are going to get worse. Recently briefed on a draft federal report, Stansbury says New Mexico is staring down a 70% to 100% reduction in snowpack that feeds the state’s two largest rivers — the Rio Grande and Pecos — between 2070 and the end of the century. “Every tiny rural community, every farm in our state is vulnerable to climate change,” she says. “And if we don’t institutionalize helping our communities, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”

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Statewide attention to climate change has emerged only in fits and starts. Between 2003 and 2011, Gov. Bill Richardson moved the needle on renewable energy and initiated work on climate change within some state agencies. But during the eight years that followed, Gov. Susana Martinez halted all action on climate change, rolled back environmental rules, and appointed industry-friendly leaders to the New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. During Martinez’s administration, many state legislators even stopped introducing bills related to renewable energy or water planning altogether — knowing the governor wouldn’t lift a pen to sign them.

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https://capitalandmain.com/new-mexicos-race-against-the-climate-clock-0108

[lapfog_1]

1. sigh

I so love my Hatch grown peppers for my green chili pork and chicken...