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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Varela
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/9/07
HB 726
SHORT TITLE Well Permits in Critical Management Areas
SB
ANALYST Wilson
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)
FY07
FY08
FY09 3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
Total
$416.7 $5,000.0 $5,000.0 $10,416.7 Recurring General
Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Office of State Engineer provided the projected additional costs
Duplicates SB 755 except short titles are different
Conflicts with HB 884
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources (EMNRD)
Environment Department (ED)
Department of Transportation (DOT)
State Engineer’s Office (SEO)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 726 redefines the terms by which a land owner may obtain a domestic well permit for
appropriating groundwater in the State of New Mexico.
Currently, the SEO is obligated under law to issue domestic well permits to a landowner who
applies. No determination is currently required as to the non-impairment of existing water rights.
The bill will reduce the amount of appropriated water for each domestic well for household use
regardless of the conditions of management of the declared basin.
For permits for domestic household use, livestock and temporary uses of water such as
prospecting, mining or construction of public works, the bill requires a determination from the
SEO that the new well will not impair existing water rights. Additionally, the bill places
constraints on the location of new livestock watering wells, and lowers the consumptive use from
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House Bill 726 – Page
2
temporary wells to one acre-foot.
Under this bill, the SEO also has the ability to declare a low impact area in an area where the
water resources have not been fully appropriated. A designation of an area as a low impact area
will require a “determination" from the SEO that the permitting of small amounts of water will
not impair existing water rights or reduce flows in streams subject to interstate stream compacts.
For low impact management areas, a determination by the State Engineer on a case-by-case basis
regarding impairment of existing water rights is apparently not required. In a low impact area,
the consumptive use for a temporary well is increased to three acre-feet.
The bill has an emergency clause.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The SEO has provided the numbers for the estimated additional operating budget impact. They
base these numbers on the approximately 50 FTEs they claim will be required for the evaluation
of domestic, livestock and temporary permits that will be required by the provisions of this bill.
The SEO states that the additional FTEs will allow the SEO to maintain the current levels of ser-
vice in regards to existing administrative duties and will help offset any potential increase in the
water right application backlog the agency currently holds.
No justification has been provided to justify the personnel requirements.
EMNRD believes the cost of developing new facilities for government agencies requiring the
installation of domestic well to provide drinking water will increase. Additionally, many of
these installations will require more than the proposed quarter acre-foot limitation proposed for
domestic household use. Therefore, state agencies will be required to acquire more water rights
via purchase on open market, thus increasing the cost for development of new facilities.
Additionally, time will be added on to the timeline associated with the development of any
facilities associated with the transfer of water rights from any other location.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
The constitution provides that the SEO can only appropriate unappropriated water and senior
water rights be protected. 72-1-1 et. seq. provide that the SEO shall
approve all application
whether or not there is unappropriated water and whether or not there will be impairment to
senior users.
The state engineer, recognizing the need for regulation of domestic wells – especially in and
around NM’s river corridors, promulgated Domestic Well Rules and Regulations on August 15,
2006, which placed a 1.0 acre-foot per annum limitation on domestic wells for household use
and allowed for the creation of Domestic Well Management Areas (DWMA) as well as other
restrictions and requirements.
This rule set outlined the procedure the state engineer will follow in declaring DWMA’s – areas
where domestic wells may negatively impact senior water rights and flows of surface water
sources. The declaration of a DWMA further restricts the amount of water that can be
appropriated for domestic use – down to 0.25 acre-foot per annum or less. This rule set is
currently being challenged in Santa Fe County District Court.
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House Bill 726 – Page
3
Both the constitutionality of 72-12-1.1 and the State Engineer’s issuance of Domestic Well
permits have been challenged in several law suits. There are two cases currently in the Supreme
Court relating to the State Engineer’s authority to regulate domestic wells permitted under
existing 72-12-1.1. If any of the lawsuits filed manage to prevail, all domestic, livestock and
temporary use well statutes will be void and those permits will have to be treated in the same
manner as all other wells.
Proponents of this bill state that this bill is intended to put something in place in that event. It
prevents impairment to senior water rights holders while providing for timely processing of
applications within the constraints imposed by New Mexico’s constitution.
SEO states that for the vast majority of the state, domestic wells have minimal impact on aquifer
water level declines. However, numerous domestic wells on small lot parcels may interfere with
the production of other wells in localized mountainous areas. These situations are relatively rare
and several options are presently available to address this concern. The provisions of the New
Mexico Subdivision Act allow the counties an effective avenue to limit the number of domestics
and their withdrawals. The courts have also imposed limitations on domestic well diversions,
and the state engineer has limited domestic well diversions under his existing authority.
The SEO currently designates critical management areas (CMA) as the basis for adopting basin
administrative guidelines for water rights application processing. Impacts from municipal and
irrigation wells were the primary factors in requiring these designations. Providing for low
impact management areas in HB 726 may cause some confusion with existing CMAs.
The process to designate CMAs is technically based and has been in place for decades. CMA
boundaries are established on technical criteria that are consistently applied throughout the state.
Groundwater flow models are used to estimate future water level declines to compare with
existing well depths. If the declines inhibit well production the state engineer will impose strict
limitations. If water supply conditions are variable within a basin multiple layers of restriction
may be required. The areas requiring the greatest level of restriction are referred to as a CMA.
Areas that are not classified as CMA are also regulated to ensure rights are not impaired. A
relatively small portion of the state has been classified as a CMA. All declared basins receive a
high degree of protection regardless of CMA classification.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
The SEO claims they processes on the average 6000 to 7000 domestic, stock and temporary well
applications per year. Requiring the evaluation of all domestic wells will require additional
FTEs, the level of which will depend on the degree to which the state engineer will exercise the
provisions of the bill and available funding. The notice and hearing requirements for CMA
designation will have a significant administrative impact as no funding is provided in the bill to
offset increased administrative costs. See the examples the SEO provided:
• Page 6, lines 4-6. The SEO will be responsible for evaluating each application for permit
for domestic, livestock, and temporary use for impairment. This requirement will add
significant administrative review to a domestic well application. The SEO will need to
develop regional and local criteria for evaluating impairment for domestic, livestock, and
temporary use.
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House Bill 726 – Page
4
• Page 6, lines 7 through 14: The bill proposes that the SEO make additional threshold
determinations before issuing a permit for domestic use that proposes to use water
outside the household. The SEO will have to determine if a proposed domestic well is
located at least a quarter mile away from the nearest existing well and further determine
if the applicant has justified the need to additional water. Such review will take
significant administrative effort, will require
the Office of the State Engineer to field
check all existing wells (many well locations in the past were permitted to the nearest 40
acre parcel), and require the Office of the State Engineer to upgrade its GIS capabilities
to properly review new domestic well applications.
• Page 6, lines 15 through 19: The bill proposes that the SEO make additional threshold
determinations before issuing a permit for livestock use. Such review will take
significant administrative effort as it will require the SEO to establish a five-mile buffer
zone around perennial rivers and streams statewide, field check existing wells as many
well locations in the past were permitted to the nearest 40 acre parcel and require the
SEO upgrade its GIS capabilities to properly review new livestock well applications.
• Page 7, lines 8 through 13: The bill proposes that the SEO make additional threshold
determinations before issuing a permit for domestic and livestock use. The SEO will
have to determine if a proposed well is located at least a half mile away from the nearest
existing well. Such review will take significant administrative effort, will require SEO to
field check existing wells as many well locations in the past were permitted to the nearest
40 acre parcel and require the SEO upgrade its GIS capabilities to properly review new
domestic well applications.
• Page 8, lines 3 through 7: The bill proposes establishing new review criteria for
evaluating an application for permit to change of point of diversion, place of use, or
purpose of use of a water right. . The SEO recommends the language in the bill should
reference the existing review requirements established in paragraph E of 72-12-3. The
proposed appropriation will not impair existing water rights from the source, is not
contrary to conservation of water within the state and is not detrimental to the public
welfare of the state.
In addition,
t
he bill provides for long-impact area designations for purposes of acting on
domestic, stock watering, and temporary use applications where the SEO finds there to be
unappropriated water; however, it doesn’t provide for areas of the state where there is no
unappropriated water. Also, the bill appears to exclude the use of a domestic well to supply
more than a single household.
DUPLICATION/ RELATIONSHIP
HB 726 duplicates SB 755, except short titles are different and conflicts with HB 884, Domestic
Well Regulation.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
The SEO suggested the following:
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House Bill 726 – Page
5
Strike the reference to “Critical Management Areas" and insert in lieu thereof “Domestic
Well Management Areas." There does not appear to be a reason for including “critical
management areas" at Section 1(E) because the term does not appear anywhere else in
the bill
Page 6, line 18. Recommend the term “river or stream “be clarified by changing to"
Perennial River or stream". On page 6, line 18 insert “perennial" before the word “river."
Page 6, lines 21-22. Recommend the term “for longer than" be replaced by “, does not
exceed a one year period". On page 6, line 21 Strike “for longer than" and insert in lieu
thereof “, does not exceed a one year period"
Section 1.E., p.3 & 4, line 24 thru line 1 on page 4. Strike the sentence, “When a special
order proposes to designate a critical or low-impact management area, the order shall not
become effective until after notice and hearing". This sentence should be stricken
because it will or could cause a rush of applications depending on the proposed
restrictions.
Section 1.G., p. 4, line 14 through line 16, strike “at convenient times distribute to these
persons all such regulations, making such charges as will defray the expense incurred in
their physical preparation and mailing." and insert in lieu thereof “notify persons on the
list that new, revised or proposed regulations are available and may be requested from the
state engineer. Such charges as will defray the expense incurred in preparation of copies
and mailing shall be paid by the requestor." Sending copies automatically to a list of
individuals may be an unnecessary effort and expense.
DW/mt