Dry, drier and driest: Trying to tackle NM’s drought

With the entire state bone-dry from a drought of nearly Biblical proportions, New Mexico legislators have established a subcommittee to discuss what can be done as rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs go dry while farmers, ranchers, recreation users, forest officials and homeowners struggle.

“We need to deal with the immediate problems but also to look five or 10 years down the road,” said Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, who will head the Drought Subcommittee that will meet at least four times across the state between July and November.

“These are the hottest and driest conditions on record,” State Engineer Scott Verhines told members of the Water and Natural Resources Committee on Monday (June 10), pointing to the complex and potentially contentious fights over distributing what little water is available in the coming months.

“We can fight or we can solve,” Verhines said.

To give you an idea how dramatically the state’s water situation has turned, here’s one of the slides the Office of the State Engineer distributed to committee members:

The first Drought Subcommittee hearing is set for July 24 in Clovis.

But what can be done, besides simply praying for rain? New Mexico Watchdog talked to three lawmakers:

Here are a couple other graphics the State Engineer distributed (click on the image to enlarge):

And here’s an aerial photo of the Caballo and Elephant Butte reservoirs in the southern part of the state:

Elephant Butte is at its lowest level ever.

Photo from Lucas Peerman and hat tip to Heath Haussamen for pointing this photo out to us.

Here’s the tentative schedule for the Drought Subcommittee:

July 24 in Clovis

Aug. 28 in Farmington

Oct. 14 in Las Cruces

Nov. 13 in Santa Fe

Contact Rob Nikolewski at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @robnikolewski