A day without water? Not with proper planning
In the spring of 2018 as a newly elected city councilor, I was fortunate to travel to Cape Town, South Africa, where our daughter was enrolled in a study abroad program at the University of Cape Town. You may remember Cape Town was experiencing severe drought.
As I put our daughter on a plane to start the semester in January 2018, local officials in Cape Town were announcing the city of 4 million people would run out of water in just three months. The taps were to be turned off in April 2018, a day labeled “day zero.” Fortunately, day zero never came to pass. Many came together to implement strategies to avert the crisis. I witnessed some of the changes in my travels.
Today, Oct. 23, the United States marks the fifth annual Imagine a Day Without Water to raise awareness about the value of water. This is timely here in Santa Fe as we renew public engagement and planning to continue work in building a sustainable and resilient water supply for our community.
Community input is vital to shaping our plans and policies for water supply management and planning for a sustainable, reliable water future in the face of climate change. The city invites the community to learn more about water resource planning and to provide feedback to inform our planning efforts. Sessions will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 and Nov. 15 at the Fogelson Library on the midtown campus.
Santa Fe is a leader in water planning and conservation. We have accomplished a lot to ensure a sustainable water future. We’re carefully managing our surface and groundwater supplies, preserving our groundwater aquifer levels for use in times of drought. We were also the first jurisdiction in New Mexico to regulate domestic wells. Conservation efforts by residents have reduced our per capita water usage to among the lowest in the nation.
There is, however, more to be done to meet our long-term water challenges. Maintaining the status quo will lead to major water shortages by 2055, according to the 2015 Santa Fe Basin Study completed in collaboration with the Bureau of Reclamation. Climate change makes it clear that we have to plan for and make smart decisions to ensure reliable water in the future.
Our Five-Year Water Conservation Plan is almost complete under the leadership of Christine Chavez, the city’s water conservation manager and the city’s Water Conservation Committee. Our ongoing commitment to water conservation is only one of the necessary steps to water sustainability and resiliency.
Because we never want to find ourselves in the position of the local officials in Cape Town, the city will begin a planning process called “Water 2100.” We will engage the public in updating our 40-year water plan required by state law while extending beyond this horizon another 40 years to 2100, incorporating the latest global climate models that forecasts future water supply levels. As part of Water 2100, we will use a recently awarded Bureau of Reclamation grant to develop a model to help us understand not only future water supply but the city’s future water demand needs. This information will help us plan capital improvements in five- to 10-year ongoing planning horizons.
So today, as we Imagine a Day Without Water, we begin the processes and continue the ongoing work together to take real and bold action now to rethink our strategies for reducing what we use, maximizing what we have today and laying the plans for future needs to ensure water for our community, our children and grandchildren.