It’s no secret that the newly elected, heavily Democratic government in Santa Fe is not supportive of the Gila River Diversion Project planned by the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project, and a number of bills making their way through the state Legislature could have major effects on Grant County and the Gila River watershed.

House Bill 417, “Southwest NM Water Projects,” directly addresses the Gila diversion in its appropriations for water projects in southwest New Mexico. The bill is co-sponsored by District 50 Rep. Matthew McQueen and District 39 Rep. Rudy Martinez, both Democrats. The brief bill would direct funding from the New Mexico unit fund to the Interstate Stream Commission for fiscal years 2020-24.

“What House Bill 417 does is provide funding for local water projects,” Martinez said in a statement from the Democratic House Majority office. “This will help with availability of water to local communities and will create jobs.”

The bill would put $12 million toward implementing the Grant County Regional Water Supply Project “to provide bulk drinking water supplies to the communities of Hurley, North Hurley, Hanover, Bayard, Santa Clara, Silver City” and the areas in between, the bill’s language said.

Another $30 million is to be used for implementing water projects in southwest New Mexico “that meet a water supply demand and comply with water trust board criteria.” The final third of the money, another $12 million, is “to be used to implement water utilization projects that will provide a new source of drinking water not derived from the Gila River for the City of Deming or other public water supply systems in Luna County.”

“I don’t know of another drinking water source” for Deming, said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of the New Mexico CAP Entity. He confirmed that the bill would block the Entity’s plan to recharge Deming’s aquifer with Gila River water.

“We’re also concerned there are no specific projects identified” in the bill, Gutierrez said, with the exception of the Grant County regional water project — which would serve the greater Silver City area. “This bill allocates funding away from the New Mexico unit fund and toward nothing. We’ve already got $9 million worth of projects done.”

The bill de facto forbids the ISC from funneling any unit fund money to the N.M. CAP Entity’s Gila diversion project.

“We’d like to see regional decisions for regional projects,” Gutierrez said, recognizing the power that the new Democrat-controlled Legislature and Democratic governor have to influence the ISC.

Another bill making its way through the Roundhouse would also put the ISC at the mercy of the state Legislature. House Bill 186, the Regional Water Planning Act — co-sponsored by District 70 Democratic Rep. Tomas E. Salazar and District 25 Democratic Sen. Peter Wirth — and Senate Bill 5, also sponsored by Wirth, both lay out plans for a restructuring of the ISC.

The latter bill, titled “Interstate Stream Membership,” introduces new language that promotes a more politically diverse cast of appointees and members. The law would still direct the governor to choose appointees “no two of whom shall be from the same political party,” and further specifies “no two members shall be appointed from the same irrigation or conservancy district.”

The biggest change would be that four out of the eight-member ISC board would be appointed by the — now Democrat-controlled — Legislature, instead of all eight being governor-appointed positions.

Gutierrez said that neither bill fundamentally “changes the responsibilities of the ISC, but does give some authority to the Legislature.”

SB 5 passed the Senate on Thursday by a 30-10 vote, and if approved by the House and signed by the governor, would take effect July 1. The bill is currently with the House Energy & Natural Resources Committee.

HB 186 seeks to “reform the general powers of the ISC,” and puts an emphasis on conservation and preservation of the state’s waterways. New language amending state law would give more power over ISC decision-making to the Legislature, as well as explicitly ordering the ISC to “maximize public involvement” and use “scientifically appropriate fact- and science-based water models for the basis of planning.”

Gutierrez said that those proposed changes might mean “more environmental membership” on the ISC, which he characterized as currently “pretty conservative.” He added that the ISC board represents interests from all over New Mexico, and that that direction is mainly through the state engineer, who is appointed to the commission by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Lujan Grisham has said she wants the Gila diversion plan scuttled.

And while not mentioning the N.M. CAP Entity by name, HB 186 also clearly takes aim at the proposed Gila diversion. Adding a wildlife protection dimension to the ISC’s mission could also affect the Entity’s plans, as language in the bill would seem to bolster the position of environmental groups opposed to the diversion. As an example, the bill instructs the ISC to “consider projects related to the conservation or protection of water supplies and the flows of interstate streams … for the people, future generations and species that depend on them.” Elsewhere, the bill guides the ISC toward water supplies that are “legally or physically available.”

Environmental groups, understandably, are supportive of the legislation. Allyson Siwik, executive director of the Gila Resources Information Project, told the Daily Press that HB 186 also “requires transparency in regional water planning.

“Using data and scientifically based facts is important,” she said. “I see this bill as modernizing how we do water planning. We need to be managing our water supplies like it’s 21st century and not back in the 20th century.”

Siwik also noted the conservation-related amendments in HB 186.

“The ISC needs to do a better job of balancing these issues. It can’t all be about developing water,” she said. “We don’t emphasize conservation in this state. We need to be using water as efficiently as we can. Conservation is key.”

Bill sponsor Salazar declined to comment on HB 186, and Wirth did not return multiple messages left at his Santa Fe office seeking comment.

Geoffrey Plant may be reached at [email protected] press.com.