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Public Meetings
On
Draft RWP Update
Tuesday
March 15
and
Monday, March 21
NOTE:
MARCH 21 LOCATION HAS BEEN CHANGED
FROM
OSE/ISC OFFICE TO JERRY CLINE TENNIS CENTER
Background -
The Middle
Rio Grande Regional Water Plan was accepted by the New
Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) in 2004. During
the years since then, implementation of that Plan has been spotty.
Numerous changes to the water situation have occurred, both
within the Region and externally. Having led the development of
the 2004 Regional Water Plan, the Water Assembly has started to address
the needed update to the Plan. .
Baseline Data -The
2004 RWP identified an unsustainable 55,000 acre-foot excess
of consumptive (evaporative) use relative to renewable supply. As
we learned during the initial planning process a credible Water Budget
has to be the basis of any meaningful planning. Accordingly, the
first step is to understand how the Region now stands relative to its
deficit spending of water. The initial Water Budget was
developed by El Grupo Técnico,
a set of thirty some experts in various related fields. The Water
Assembly has tasked El Grupo Técnico Dos (Drs. Frank Titus, Bruce Thomson, Jesse
Roach, and others) with developing a revised Water Budget, updated to
reflect new knowledge and changes to the Region since the original was
published in 1999.
Initial Processes - The
ISC published an Updated Regional Water
Planning Handbook in December 2013 to serve as guidelines to
preparing updates to New Mexico regional water plans. The ISC's plan
was to have all sixteen regional water plans all updated and the state
water plan also updated by the end of 2015. The ISC's guidance flyer
and associated presentations indicate that the ISC would do most of the
planning update work in 2014 (technical data, supply and demand, legal
issues, demographic changes and economic issues) and that the regions
will do the balance in 2015 (public participation and project/policy
update) via "steering committees" if funding becomes
available. The Water Assembly and (MRCOG's) Water Resources Board
are working to determine how to create a competent update to the
existing Middle Rio Grande Regional Water Plan within the context of
the ISC's concepts.
2015 Activities - In
early 2015, the ISC asked the MRCOG to create a diverse Steering
Committee, making sure there would be representation from a listed set
of stakeholder types. Following up on a set of RWP historical
perspective briefings from the Water Assembly, the Steering Committee
met bi-weekly through the spring of 2015, with ongoing advice from the
Water Assembly. While these meetings were open to the public,
there was no meaningful outreach to obtain public attendance. The
ISC's stated objective was for the Steering Committee to provide input
to the ISC on the public participation and recommended policies,
programs, and projects for the regions In
June of 2015, the Steering Committee provided its products to the ISC.
Input Submissions to ISC
- In early June, the Steering Committee agreed upon a
work-product, being a ranking of progress
against the recommendations in the 2004 RWP. The ISC's consultant
added a tabulation of potential
projects from various ICIPs to be included in the RWP
Update, and a draft Public Involvement Plan,
neither of which had been approved by the Steering Committee prior to
submission to the ISC. The Water Assembly submitted, through the
Steering Committee. a six-part document
including a cover letter, a set of guiding principles for the RWP update,
a set of RWP update considerations, a set of recommended future
strategies, a collection of technical data, and a summary of the
sixteenth Water Assembly convocation on climate disruption and our
water future.
2016 Activities - On
January 22, 2016, the ISC sent parts of their draft Regional Water Plan
Update to the Steering Committee and a few other folks. Links to
that draft material, and other potentially relevant data appear
in the "Report" paragraphs below. To obtain public input
on their draft Update of the Regional Water Plan, the ISC will
facilitate three public meetings in the region, the first of which was
conducted on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm..
The location was the Office of the State Engineer building, 5550
San Antonio Drive NE in Albuquerque (1/4 mile east of I-25 on Ellison /
San Antonio / Harper). The February 9 agenda
and meeting summary .
The Water Assembly submitted a two-page comment
on the ISC's draft RWP update for the Middle Rio Grande Region.
The Steering Committee will accept submitted comments on
the ISC's draft RWP Update until March 11. Click here to submit
comments. The Steering Committee will review and coalesce received comments during its Public
Meeting at 1:30 pm on March 15 at the Dekker/Perich/Sabatini Offices (click for map).
The ISC will accept comment from the Steering Committee and
the public when it holds its next-to-last Public
Meeting at 1:30 pm on March 21
at the Jerry Cline Tennis Center 7205 Constitution Ave NE,
Albuquerque (click for map). NOTE:
LOCATION HAS BEEN CHANGED FROM OSE/ISC OFFICE
The Draft Regional Water Plan Update
- Following are links to the ISC's mid-February
2016 posting of the Regional Water Plan Update
A. Executive Summary -- still to be written
B. Introduction
C. Public Involvement in the Planning Process --
still to be written,
Early draft by ISC
consultant
D. Description
of the Planning Region
E. Legal
Issues
F. Water
Supply
G. Water
Demand
H. Identified
Gaps between Supply and Demand
I. Implementation of Strategies to Meet Future
Water Demand --
still
to be written, Early draft by Steering
Committee,
Revision of early draft by
ISC consultant
Re-Revision of early draft
by ISC consultant 3-3-16
Figures
for chapters F, G, and H
Tables
for chapters F, G, and H
References
ISC Instructions and Guidance
- Following are links to various instructional documents
from the ISC
RWP
Update Handbook - December 2013
Future
Strategies Checklist
Guidance
Document #1 - Public Comment
Guidance
Document #2 - Implementation of Strategies to Meet
Future
Water Demand
Administrative
Water Supply Handout
Letter
to the Public from ISC about 2015 Meetings and Process -
November
2015
Acceptance
Criteria for ISC Regional Water Plan Updates - 2015
Related Water Assembly Documents
- As part of its role in observing and advising the ISC
and Steering Committee processes, the Water Assembly has developed and
provided several ancillary documents. In December 2013, we
provided the ISC with a set of concerns about the impending
RWP Update process. Early in the Steering Committee
meeting series, we briefed the Steering Committee on the 2004 RWP process and content
and provided some thoughts about the update process. We also
provided our perception of progress against the 2004 RWP recommendations
and a list of open issues. In June 2015, we provided a memoranadum describing some concerns
about the RWP Update process.
Relevant Studies, Analyses, and Reports
- The Middle Rio Grande Region (Sandoval, Bernalillo and
Valencia Counties) and Basin (Cochiti Reservoir to Elephant Butte
Reservoir) have been the beneficiaries of lots of applicable studies,
analyses, and reports which should not be ignored. Click
here to access a selection of those documents.
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