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The districts have formalized an arrangement about how to apportion water from Elephant Butte Reservoir, ending a dispute that has stretched on for 29 years. The irrigation districts, which together make up the Rio Grande Project, also agreed to drop two lawsuits they'd filed in recent years in federal court.
At issue was a contention by the El Paso County Improvement District No. 1 that unregulated groundwater pumping by
New Mexico farmers was impacting river flows and ultimately cutting into their share of water from the reservoir. But there never has been a formal agreement in place about how much water each district was entitled to each year, something remedied with the new settlement.
Also under the terms, Elephant Butte Irrigation District — which manages
water for
Doña
Ana
County farmers — agreed to guarantee the delivery of all of the
El Paso district's water to the state boundary.
EBID farmers will be able to continue using groundwater wells to supplement river water, as long they meet the delivery requirement to the
El Paso district.
EBID Manager Gary Esslinger said reaching an agreement with the
El Paso irrigators has been a major goal of his 29-year career with the district.
"I don't know if people will grasp the significance and importance of this monumental agreement and what it means for
New Mexico and
Texas," he said. "What other states could not accomplish and resulted in costly Supreme Court decisions, 14 farmers in the Rio Grande Project were able to agree and resolve this interstate dispute."
Esslinger referred to the governing boards of both districts, which spent the past year negotiating the settlement.
The federal government in 1979 handed over control of irrigation networks to both water districts and called on them to work out an arrangement for sharing water. But Esslinger said a contract was never reached. Recent drought years brought attention back to the dispute, he said.
Jesus Reyes, manager for the
El Paso district, said he's pleased with the terms.
"We want to be good neighbors and that's the message we get from EBID — that they understand our concerns," he said.
Both districts gave credit to Pat Gordon, Rio Grande Compact Commissioner for
Texas, because of his leadership in the negotiations.
Attorneys for EBID said the agreement is historic because it avoids the sort legal battle between states that has played out in other regions of the country. One dispute, for example, pitted
Texas against
New Mexico over water flow in the
Pecos
River. A judge ruled against
New Mexico, which had to pay a $15 million settlement.
New Mexico also spent millions more enforcing the terms of the agreement.
EBID attorney Stephen Hubert said similar rulings have occurred against upstream states elsewhere. He said that El Paso and Doña Ana County irrigators have negotiated their differences outside of court is unique.
"Across the West, this is a huge, huge story," he said.
Diana M. Alba can be reached at dalba@lcsun-news.com
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