Over at the Political State Report, I received the following comment from a reader:
I understand if property rights are the alpha and omega of this issue as far as you’re concerned, but it might help your readers to have presented the State Engineer’s motivation for seeking to cap the use of private wells. Nowhere do you describe the state of water scarcity in New Mexico that might have led them to take this (otherwise inexplicable) decision.
Posted by Brittain33 at January 20, 2005 10:10 AM
Since I aim to please, I started searching for the State Engineer’s motivation. I am sorry to report that I wasn’t able to find anything that justified this unconstitutional proposal. However, I did find this information posted on a downloadable PDF at the State Engineer’s website demonstrating just how “inexplicable” this legislation is.
The domestic category use of water use, expressed as a percent of the state total in New Mexico in 2000, hovers around one percent. Look at the numbers for yourself:
Commercial (self-supplied)
0.6% of Total Withdrawal
0.79% of Total Depletion
Domestic (self-supplied)
0.83% of Total Withdrawal
1.35% of Total Depletion
Industrial (self-supplied)
0.28% of Total Withdrawal
0.3% of Total Depletion
Irrigated Agriculture
76.14% of Total Withdrawal
68.28% of Total Depletion
Livestock (self-supplied)
1.03% of Total Withdrawal
1.68% of Total Depletion
Mining (self-supplied)
1.6% of Total Withdrawal
1.84% of Total Depletion
Power (self-supplied)
1.49% of Total Withdrawal
2.18% of Total Depletion
Public Water Supply
7.84% of Total Withdrawal
6.96% of Total Depletion
Reservoir Evaporation
10.19% of Total Withdrawal
16.62% of Total Depletion
State Totals
100% of Total Withdrawal
100% of Total Depletion
This data makes the State Engineer’s proposal not only “inexplicable,” it proves it unconscionable. His proposal has nothing to do with dealing with the “state of water scarcity” in New Mexico and everything to do with a government power grab.