The federal government is investing $60 million in the lower Rio Grande

May 10—The federal government will invest $60 million in drought resiliency in the Rio Grande Basin, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced Friday.

The millions come from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and will be used for water conservation and drought resilience projects south of the Elephant Butte Reservoir and in West Texas.

"When we invest in the Rio Grande, we invest in people, wildlife, in economies and in our future," Haaland said.

The announcement is the first of more to come. The Inflation Reduction Act includes $500 million for water management and conservation efforts outside of the Colorado River Basin in areas experiencing similar long-term drought. The Department of the Interior will announce funding for other basins in the summer and fall.

What will the money do?

The $60 million should help increase storage of existing sediment dams and new off-channel storage to capture stormwater, recharge the aquifer, reduce irrigation demands, create fallowing programs and create riparian wildlife habitat for threatened and endangered species like the yellow-billed cuckoo, according to Haaland. The proposed projects could save tens of thousands of acre-feet of water annually.

The Bureau of Reclamation will work with the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1, the International Boundary and Water Commission and other local stakeholders to develop water projects.

The money has to be on the ground within the next four years, said Michelle Estrada-Lopez, Rio Grande program sponsor for the Bureau of Reclamation.

"New Mexico and the Rio Grande are ground zero for climate change," said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M. "We are seeing impacts from lowering snowpack (and) diminished flows. As the Secretary said, our river went dry in places that had not historically, and we're seeing those impacts on our communities, on our bosque, and on our wildlife and the systems that depend on it."

What's the impact on the Compact?

Investing in irrigation districts south of the Elephant Butte Reservoir will also help the state deliver water to Texas and meet the terms of the Rio Grande Compact, Stansbury said.

The Rio Grande Compact is a legal agreement between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas around how to divide the water of the Rio Grande. New Mexico and Texas have been in a decade-long legal dispute after Texas alleged that New Mexico was not delivering enough water to meet Compact requirements. The states have reached a proposed agreement, but the Supreme Court still needs to weigh in.

Who else is investing in the Rio Grande?

Based on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's 50-year water action plan, in 50 years New Mexico can expect to have 25% less water than today, said State Infrastructure Adviser Rebecca Roose. The state is facing diminishing surface water flows and issues with reduced groundwater levels, both of which could be addressed by the new federal dollars, said New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission Director Hannah Riseley-White.

Capturing additional stormwater could help groundwater levels rise and reduce surface water depletions, Estrada-Lopez said.

"We know that there isn't just one single solution to what we're facing," Riseley-White said. "It's going to be an all of the above approach. So, conservation, increased efficiency, looking to brackish water, seeing how we manage our stormwater and how we can use that better. So we're going to have to bring a whole slate of solutions in order to bring a sustainable water future to the Lower Rio Grande and the Middle Rio Grande."

The Bureau of Reclamation already has spent $60 million from the bipartisan Infrastructure Law on the Rio Grande, including over $30 million for aging infrastructure repairs, and improving water supplies and water delivery systems in the Rio Grande and Middle Rio Grande Project, Haaland said.

The state's investment in water infrastructure complements the historic federal investment announced Friday, according to Roose. Between the last two legislative sessions, the New Mexico Legislature has provided $65 million for the Lower Rio Grande and $30 million for the Middle Rio Grande, Riseley-White said.

"We've probably made a lot of mistakes as a country with our water before we realized that we should really be treating it as a precious resource," Haaland said.