A bill is now under consideration in the New Mexico State Legislature that would provide funding for flood mitigation projects in a state that has often been plagued with flash flooding.
As introduced by Senator Siah Correa Hemphill, the Acequia Fund for Disaster Response will appropriate anywhere from $2.5 million to $5 million annually to fund such projects as acequias irrigation work, dams, reservoirs, and diversions.
Hemphill was among local officials last summer who toured the devastation from rising Gila River flood waters in the community of Gila and western Grant County.
“I want to create a rural infrastructure crisis fund at the state government level,” Hemphill remarked to the Silver City Daily Press in explaining her legislation.
“This is a fund we could draw from to have easier access to funds in a crisis.”
According to an analysis of the bill compiled by the Legislative Finance Committee, the measure would “double the funding available for acequias and community ditches.”
If passed, the bill would also allow monies from the existing Acequia and Community Ditch Infrastructure Fund to go to “disaster response recovery, and hazard mitigation, and for matching and meeting funding available from other state and federal programs.”
The measure is now on its way to the Senate Conservation Committee for review.
By Garry Boulard
