Water Banking Workshop Brings Stakeholders Togeth

Water Banking Workshop Brings Stakeholders Together by Catherine Ortega Klett, Program Manager On November 12, 2015, the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute hosted a one-day workshop in Las Cruces to learn more about the possibility of establishing a water bank in the Lower Rio Grande in southern New Mexico. The workshop was sponsored by several Lower Rio Grande water users including PNM, City of Las Cruces, New Mexico Farm Credit, New Mexico Pecan Growers, Southern Rio Grande Diversified Crop Farmers Association, Camino Real Regional Utility Authority, New Mexico State University, a USDA grant, and NM WRRI. Over 100 stakeholders participated in the workshop including farmers, local water-user groups, faculty and students, state water agency staff, legislators, and other interested individuals. Workshop participants were eager to hear from groups that have successfully addressed the effects of groundwater pumping on surface water depletion through the establishment of a water bank or through other similar and flexible mechanisms. Several states such as Kansas and Nebraska have established water banks. Representatives from those states spoke at the workshop and described how they implemented successful water banks in their area. University of Arizona Professor Bonnie Colby, an expert on voluntary, incentive-based arrangements to improve water supply reliability and reduce regional economic losses during drought, described how to develop a system to trade water. NMSU Professor Frank A. Ward specifically addressed drought adaptation in the Rio Grande Basin through water banking. An executive summary of the workshop is being prepared and will be posted on NM WRRI’s website. Slide presentations from the workshop are available on the NM WRRI website under the Conferences tab at: http://nmwrri.nmsu.edu/.