By Rachel Conn / Amigos Bravos and Tricia Snyder / New Mexico Wild
Petrichor is the smell of water hitting dry soil. In New Mexico, that scent reverberates as it fills the nose, communicating one simple fact down to our very bones: water is life. From the driest parts of the state when rain brings little streams bursting back to life, carrying that vitality to all the plants and wildlife they touch, to the headwaters where water trickles cold and clear, filling ancient acequias, and across the Land of Enchantment we know our communities, our culture, our economy, and all we hold dear is wholly dependent on this precious life source.
But New Mexico’s waters are threatened like never before. Multiple changes to the federal Clean Water Act in recent years have removed federal protections for many wetlands and for streams that don’t flow year-round across the country. Because this includes so many of our state’s waters, nowhere is more vulnerable to these impacts than New Mexico.
As long-time clean water advocates, we’ve seen first-hand the impacts of changing federal protections. Constant shifting in these protections have created regulatory uncertainty for industry, challenges for state agencies in determining their role in protecting waters, and left our most important resource exposed to pollution and degradation.
New Mexico is also one of only three states that still depends on the Environmental Protection Agency to issue water quality permits. Now that the federal government no longer has jurisdiction over the vast majority of New Mexico’s waters, they are no longer able to control discharges of pollution into most of our rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands.
In order to remedy this, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) is working hard to set up a state-led surface water quality permitting program. Without a state program, we exist in a reactive rather than proactive space. Instead of issuing permits to deter pollution before it occurs, NMED must wait to act until a pollution event has already violated our water quality standards.
Establishing this program is a key recommendation of the Governor’s Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force. Composed of experts across a wide array of water uses and geographies, these recommendations were developed through consensus. It was also highlighted in the Governor’s recently released 50-year water action plan. We’re grateful to the Governor and the legislature for investing $7.6 million this legislative session for the purposes of setting up the surface water permitting program and shared infrastructure with the existing groundwater permitting program. It’s wise to invest some of our surplus funds now to ensure our waters are protected for future generations of New Mexicans.
But the hard work is just beginning, and many details remain to be determined. NMED is in the process of reaching out to get ideas and priorities from stakeholders. Notably, the establishment of a state program, instead of relying on out-of-state federal regulators, enables decisions about our water to be made with input from the communities who know our state’s waters best.
We look forward to working with NMED and with stakeholders and communities to build this program to fit the needs of New Mexico. Our culture, families, farms, wildlife and habitat–in short
all of the things that make the Land of Enchantment such a unique and special place–all depend on clean water. And it’s up to all of us to protect it.
Rachel Conn, of Taos, is deputy director for Amigos Bravos. Tricia Snyder, of Albuquerque, is Rivers and Waters Program director for New Mexico Wild. Learn more at nmwaters.org.
This op-ed was published in the Albuquerque Journal on March 31st, 2024.
