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A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE STATE ENGINEER, WHEN EVALUATING APPLICATIONS

TO EXPORT GROUND WATER OUT OF THE ESTANCIA BASIN, TO CONSIDER

THE AVAILABILITY OF WATER SUPPLIES WITHIN THE BASIN TO WHICH

WATER IS BEING EXPORTED.

WHEREAS, certain governmental entities are considering

or have considered policies to mine and export ground water

from the Estancia basin, which is the sole water supply

source for Estancia basin communities; and

WHEREAS, the ground water resources of the Estancia

basin are not renewable and will not be replenished because

they are being mined; and

WHEREAS, the exportation of ground water from the

Estancia basin has the potential to shorten its productivity;

and

WHEREAS, the Estancia basin regional water plan provides

that the exportation of ground water is contrary to the

greater interest of the planning area and that it must be

aggressively discouraged and opposed; and

WHEREAS, the ground water of the Estancia basin

constitutes the sole potable water supply upon which the

communities in the basin depend; and

WHEREAS, the local governments of Moriarty, Willard,

Estancia, Mountainair, Edgewood and Torrance county and local

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residents of the Estancia basin have joined together in

opposing increased mining and exportation of ground water

from the Estancia basin; and

WHEREAS, the boards of county commissioners of Torrance,

Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties have actively discouraged

the exportation of any ground water from the Estancia basin;

and

WHEREAS, during the hearings on the regional water plan

and the Torrance county comprehensive ordinance, the Estancia

basin public consistently voiced its opposition to the

exportation of water from the Estancia basin, fearing that

exportation will both impair the existing water rights and be

detrimental to planning regions' public welfare; and

WHEREAS, the state engineer has administratively

designated parts of the Estancia basin as a critical

management area, curbing both domestic use and other uses of

water; and

WHEREAS, there is uncertainty regarding the maximum

amount of ground water that will be placed to beneficial use

in any given year within the Estancia basin, and all studies

conclude that current existing diversions from the aquifer

exceed the rate at which it is being recharged; and

WHEREAS, the continued and future economic existence of

the Estancia basin communities is dependent on a reliable, if

not entirely sustainable, water supply; and

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WHEREAS, some ground and surface water basins have

access to reliable, renewable sustainable water supplies from

renewable stream systems and have the ability to acquire

water rights within those systems and also have sufficient

ground water resources to sustain their current and projected

growth needs; and

WHEREAS, the public welfare of the state is served by

requiring other basins to develop the available surface and

ground water resources within their own basins rather than

mining the nonrenewable ground water resources in the rural

Estancia basin and depriving fellow New Mexicans, including

ranchers, farmers and community governments, of a future;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF

THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the exportation of mined ground

water from the Estancia basin shall be consistent with the

public welfare of New Mexico and not contrary to the planning

objectives within a regional water plan; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any application to export

water from the Estancia basin be supported by proof of a need

in the importing basin to import ground water from the

Estancia basin and proof that there are no alternative

available in-basin sources of water to supply the region

seeking to import ground water from the Estancia basin; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be

transmitted to the state engineer.