{"id":35100,"date":"2023-03-23T17:57:20","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T23:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-new-law-aims-to-strengthen-rural-water-systems\/"},"modified":"2023-03-23T23:57:20","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T23:57:20","slug":"a-new-law-aims-to-strengthen-rural-water-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-new-law-aims-to-strengthen-rural-water-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"A new law aims to strengthen rural water systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Flooding
Flooding pushed trees onto this bank in the Mimbres. The river should be flowing just beyond this buildup. Pictured on Dec. 15, 2022. (Photo by Megan Gleason \/ Source NM)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Anita LaRan has sat on the board of her water system in Mora County that connects dozens of homes to clean water since 2008.<\/p>\n

A few hours south in San Ysidro, Ram\u00f3n Lucero used to help run the system in the community where he raised his family and now works with people in the same position across the state to keep their water flowing, even as the workforce dwindles.<\/p>\n

These two New Mexicans live in different communities and are connected by more than the water streams that provide fresh water for residents and agriculture, while also responding to the destruction caused by wildfires. They\u2019ve seen crucial work go unfinished because people age out, pass on, cannot juggle their paying jobs with the volunteer work, or are left displaced by the wildfire destruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of got stuck with everything, and it\u2019s kind of like a full-time job,\u201d LaRan said.<\/p>\n

Legislation passed by lawmakers in Santa Fe this year, and signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week could allow hundreds of small water systems that exist in the state to create associations that can collectively seek funding for repair work and, among other priorities, find the expertise to fill out required paperwork by state and federal entities.<\/p>\n

Lucero saw the need for rural residents in his northern New Mexico community to move away, and then how that impacted the work to keep water flowing to residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt left very few people in the community that were actually keeping up with maintenance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

How it will work<\/p>\n

The new law called the Regional Water System Resiliency Act was sponsored by Sens. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) and Liz Stefanics (D-Cerillos) along with Rep. Susan Herrera (D-Embudo).<\/p>\n

Lujan Grisham signed the bill into law on March 13.<\/p>\n

It creates the framework for these communities to efficiently pay people to work across multiple systems and ensure these places get reliable, safe water.<\/p>\n

Under the law, two or more water associations in New Mexico can create an authority to form economies of scale and get more done. It allows them to elect leadership, run water facilities, create fee structures and use that money to keep up with maintenance, including road work to access acequias. They can also hire people to meet administrative demands across multiple systems, which is key in applying for federal or state money.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t require anyone to do it.<\/p>\n

The water associations must be recognized by the New Mexico State Engineer and are ultimately approved by the Secretary of State.<\/p>\n

Herrera said this is one of the most important pieces of legislation this session for her district in northern New Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we have climate change, we have drought, we have fires, we have aging water systems and people don\u2019t have the money or resources to fix them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Consolidating water district needs<\/div>\n

In 2016, LaRan helped form the Mora County Water Alliance, which connects five water systems.<\/p>\n

The workload became so great, she and her colleagues began looking around for other small water systems to combine forces with, hoping that together, they could get more done and afford more services to address needs that weren\u2019t being met.<\/p>\n

Seven years later, they haven\u2019t been able to lock in the team needed to keep the systems intact, test water health and file state-required reports.<\/p>\n

Some systems took a hit with the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire last year. And she doesn\u2019t believe the alliance in Mora is ready for a future with more instability brought on by climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still don\u2019t have someone on board to do the reporting, billing and bookkeeping,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said there are also fewer people to do the manual work, like shoveling debris in ditches and access points in some of the water systems, especially acequias.<\/p>\n

Lucero noticed similar problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we started moving from that generation to future generations, they got further from the day-to-day operations of the water system and further especially from all the reporting requirements,\u201d Lucero, who works as a field manager for the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, said.<\/p>\n

He said the problem began in the early 20th century, as Northern New Mexicans moved away for jobs in bigger cities and other states.<\/p>\n

As people continue to move out of those communities, age out of the work or simply don\u2019t have time to do it alongside full-time work and caring for family, or have been displaced by the massive fire, these systems don\u2019t receive vital maintenance.<\/p>\n

The infrastructure aged, and the new people running it couldn\u2019t get funds from the state to fix it because they hadn\u2019t been meeting the reporting requirements, which they didn\u2019t understand. Lucero said at this point, the system requires a lot from volunteers that just isn\u2019t sustainable.<\/p>\n

His job is to help them navigate the reporting system so they can get the money to keep their water systems in shape. He said his organization has fewer than 10 employees working with about 80 communities in the state alongside two other technical assistance providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just can\u2019t keep up with that anymore. There\u2019s just too many compliance issues, too many communities that lack the capacity to keep up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A few communities in the state have dealt with this problem by combining resources to hire staff to work across a number of small systems. Lucero said those were a model for the Regional Water Resiliency Act, which he helped write.<\/p>\n

Herrera, one of the bill\u2019s sponsors, said this new law will help consolidate the patchwork relief she\u2019s relied on as a legislator.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, I would put $50,000 Band-Aids on $5 million projects,\u201d she added. To get money for these systems, she\u2019d have to support separate legislation for each. Once they join together, they can go after state and federal money together through legislation or grants.<\/p>\n

Herrera said that the New Mexico Finance Authority will incentivize mutual domestic water associations if they regionalize, or create the authorities.<\/p>\n

In Mora County, LaRan has not only advocated for this type of cooperation between water systems, but saw firsthand the complications it can bring.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we don\u2019t want to give up control,\u201d LaRan said about the water associations in Mora County. \u201cBut I believe that a water system should be run like a business. It should be able to meet financial burdens. It should be able to have some funds available for major breakdowns.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she emphasized that while she sees this law as a help to that cause, there\u2019s still a lot of work to do. Most importantly, the Mora County Water Alliance needs funds.<\/p>\n

She said once that happens, the group can start to make plans not just for survival, but long-term resiliency.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the community level, a lot of people are still reacting,\u201d she said, referring to damage caused by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire. \u201cBut I think our goal should be to plan way ahead in the future because with climate change, we\u2019re liable to have many more disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more articles from Source New Mexico, visit <\/em>https:\/\/sourcenm.com<\/em><\/a>\/.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acequias recognized by the state can soon form associations to help with funding, work and keeping water flowing to New Mexicans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[799,295],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-farmington","tag-water"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35100"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}