City Council set to vote on Buckman water deal with county
City Council to vote today on agreement involving Buckman Direct Diversion
The Santa Fe City Council is set to vote Wednesday on an agreement with Santa Fe County that would give both local governments more flexibility in how they use water drawn from their jointly owned Rio Grande diversion — particularly during times of drought.
The deal also would ensure county customers have a reliable water supply when the operation is shut down.
The deal, approved Jan. 12 by the Santa Fe County Commission, centers on the Buckman Direct Diversion, a facility that pulls and treats water from the Rio Grande for use by Santa Fe-area residents and businesses.
The city’s supply comes from the San Juan-Chama Project, a river diversion in southern Colorado that sends San Juan water into the Rio Chama and, eventually, down the Rio Grande. The county, meanwhile, has rights to water that naturally flows into the Rio Grande.
The difference?
The city can store some of its water in Heron Lake and Abiquiú Lake, reservoirs along the Rio Chama. The county has no storage capacity for its Rio Grande flows.
Under the agreement, called a shared pool, the county essentially would loan the city its excess Rio Grande water. The deal limits the loan to 1,100 acre-feet per year, or around 358.4 million gallons. When the diversion is shut down intentionally to save on operational costs or must be shut down — due to low river flows, high levels of sediment or equipment breakdowns — the city would reimburse the county by sending it supplies from another source, such as the McClure and Nichols reservoirs in the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed east of the city.
The city, in the meantime, would be able to keep more of its
water stored upstream.
“I think it is a benefit for both parties,” Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen said. “What I feel is that the county has native water that doesn’t always get used up.”
Santa Fe Water Division Director Jesse Roach agreed, noting it makes sense to devise ways to hold more water for use during a time of substantial drought, when rivers are running low.
The county particularly benefits from the shared pool, he said, because it largely relies on water that can’t be stored.
County Commissioner Anna Hamilton said the deal “will just give us more options when we have to manage water use in a drought situation.”
Because the city serves as the provider of the county’s backup water supply, City Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth said, it’s important for the two local governments to work together as drought conditions worsen.
“If we can do something to take advantage of the water when it’s available, it’s an important piece,” she said.
City officials did note a potential downside to the agreement in a memo explaining the agreement to city councilors.
If the Buckman plant faces a shutdown when the city’s surface supply in the watershed is limited, the memo said, the city and county would have to rely on a network of groundwater wells.
The board that oversees the Buckman Direct Diversion planned to shut it down in October as increasing drought conditions raised questions about whether the river flows would hold out.
The city and county avoided the shutdown that month.
However, conditions have worsened since then. Santa Fe County and much of New Mexico are now experiencing the most severe drought conditions. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows all of the county in “exceptional drought,” while conditions statewide range from severe to exceptional drought.
Officials have again discussed the possibility of a Buckman shutdown due to low water flows.
A few years ago, Santa Fe County suggested a series of meetings with the city and other local water districts to discuss the option of forming a regional water authority, similar to the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, to further collaborate on building reliable supplies.
The City Council responded in 2017 with a resolution expressing opposition to a regional water effort. The measure stated the Buckman Direct Diversion already serves as a joint authority between the city and county — with the Las Campanas subdivision serving as a limited partner — and represents an ideal water partnership.
Roach said the shared pool agreement shows the city and county can move forward in a cooperative manner to address water issues.
The two governments also are cooperating on long-range water planning efforts, including a $20 million, 17-mile pipeline that would send effluent from the city’s wastewater treatment plant to the Rio Grande to help build credits for future water use, rather than sending it down the Santa Fe River.
Hansen, the county commissioner, said she agrees the Buckman Direct Diversion serves as the joint authority between the city and county — one that can continue to grow.
“My view is that we make that a well-run joint authority,” Hansen said. “If we are working in harmony and recognizing how we can benefit each other, then we can start moving out from there.
“I am not going to put the cart in front of the horse,” she added. “I am going to make sure we are giving the horse enough water so that we can take care of our constituents.”