Some $80 million in federal funds may be on the way to four southwestern New Mexico counties for a variety of water infrastructure projects.
Members of the New Mexico State Senate have voted in favor of legislation giving that funding to the New Mexico Water Trust Board to oversee and implement the projects.
In so doing, the lawmakers pulled the money out of the Central Arizona Project Entity where it was originally intended to be applied to a diversion project on the Gila River, which runs through both New Mexico and Arizona.
The funding was folded into the Arizona Water Settlement Act of 2004. That legislation was designed to allocate to two Native American tribes a certain percentage of developed water supply.
In New Mexico, some 14,000 acre-feet of water, under the settlement act, would be diverted for landowners on an annual basis from the Gila River.
The legislation also gave to New Mexico $56 million for construction of the diversion project. But in the years since, that funding has proved too low for a project that some analysts have said could easily cost six times that amount.
That $56 million has since been returned to Washington.
The legislation just approved in the New Mexico State Legislature would go for water infrastructure projects in Catron, Grant, Luna, and Hidalgo counties.
If ultimately signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, the legislation will also result in the appointment of a representative from the four New Mexico counties to serve on the Water Trust Board.
By Garry Boulard
