After Gov. Susana Martinez recently declared more state money would go toward water conservation and infrastructure in 2014, the Española City Council closed its Jan. 28 meeting with some water-related legislation of its own.
Over the course of the meeting, the Council voted to allow city officials to seek a $25,000 grant for a water conservation plan, and leased 742-acre-feet of the city’s excess water to the Cuatros Villas Mutual Domestic Water Users Association and the Rio de Chama Acequia Association.
In an interview, Water Operations Supervisor Adrian Martinez said a new water conservation plan was important for an integral resource in the region.
“Water conservation is one of the most important things in the Southwest,” he said.
In basic terms, a water conservation plan looks at the city’s water usage and where it may be losing water. The city’s most current conservation plan was created in 2001.
The grant originates from the state Bureau of Reclamation, which would reimburse the city for the amount of the grant, plus the hourly pay of any city employees who work on the project.
Martinez estimated the city would only have to allocate $12,000, while the Bureau’s reimbursement of staff’s pay would cover the rest.
If the is city given the grant, the money will go toward hiring an engineer to help formulate the conservation plan.
The Council unanimously voted to allow city officials to apply for the grant.
Cuatros Villas lack of conservation caused them to seek a lease with the city at the Council meeting. Cuatros Villas President Mukhtiar Khalsa and former city public works director Marvin Martinez presented their case before the Council.
Marvin Martinez and Khalsa said the 371-acre-feet of the city’s excess San Juan-Chama River water they were seeking was because of an “over-diversion” in Cuatros Villas’s water supply.
Adrian Martinez said in an interview that “over-diversion” occurs when a water association draws more water than it reported to the state Engineer’s Office.
Cuatros Villas will use the water they lease from the city as credits to “pay back” the water they over-diverted.
Deputy city clerk Anna Squires said the amount of money Cuatros Villas will pay is dependent on whether the city decides to use a Bureau assessment to value the water. With the environmental assessment, Cuatro Villas will pay $19,240. Without, the price lowers to $5,200. Officials with the city and Cuatros Villas are still negotiating the final price.
Acequia Association President Fred Vigil said his association had a much simpler reason for wanting to lease 371-acre-feet of the city’s San Juan-Chama River water — agriculture.
Vigil introduced to the Council a small group of farmers that were a part of the Acequia Association’s 1,000-person membership. The water would go to supplying the local acequias the farmers draw upon for their crops.
To further convince the Council, Vigil gave an overview of the Acequia Association’s activities and responsible qualities.
“We are a very proactive association,” he said. “We’ve done regional water studies and we’ve done studies on the nitrates in the water and all that. We were recently awarded the contract with the Water Trust Board, in which we are two years ahead with our payments. So we’re very proactive and very frugal and we pay our bills.”
Vigil’s presentation struck personal note for Mayor Alice Lucero.
“Farmers are very dear to me,” she said. “I grew up on a small farm and I know how hard my father worked and I know how important it is to get that water in that acequia. Because water is life. Life to plants and life to us. So it is a precious resource and we all have to take care of it.”
The Acequia Association will pay $5,200 and is not subject to a Bureau environmental assessment because the water will be stored.
The Council unanimously approved both leases.