Arch Hurley board looks toward 2022

With growing season coming to an end, the Arch Hurley Conservancy District’s board of directors last week essentially ended 2021 without allocating any water for the year and looked forward to 2022 instead.

With frost typically occurring in late October, the possible allocation of water wasn’t even on the board’s agenda during its Oct. 12 meeting. The lack of water this year in the Arch Hurley irrigation system was the first time it had happened since 2017.

District manager Franklin McCasland reported the level of Conchas Lake, which feeds into the irrigation system, dipped slightly in September. The lake received 1,139 acre-feet of water and 3,041 acre-feet lost to evaporation and other reasons during the month.

September was an unusually hot month, with several days of temperatures approaching 100 degrees.

The lake’s elevation the morning of the meeting was 4,162.7 feet. The elevation the previous month was 4,163.2 feet, or a half-foot higher.

The district conceivably can discharge water when levels reach 4,162 feet, though McCasland said earlier this year he wasn’t comfortable doing that until it reaches 4,174 feet.

Board members discussed possibly allocating and discharging water in the spring. McCasland noted it would take two to three weeks to clear canals of silt and brush, and he had “no clear plan” when that would happen. He said those efforts likely would begin in February, but cautioned that burning out brush was “very expensive.”

McCasland said after the meeting an ideal scenario would be to allocate water in February to give farmers time to prepare for it, then release it in April.

Board members discussed early weather predictions of ample snowfall in the region this winter, plus several ski resorts in New Mexico having already received snow. Snowpack is a critical variable in raising Conchas Lake levels during the spring and early summer.

The U.S. Drought Monitor on Oct. 14 reported almost all of Quay County was in abnormally dry conditions except for the northeast part, which is experiencing moderate drought.

About one-third of the state, especially the northwest, is experiencing extreme or severe drought.

In other business, audience member Philip Box suggested the district request money from the $3.5 trillion federal infrastructure bill being considered in Washington, D.C.

“If we put our name in there, we have a chance to get some help,” he said, suggesting a request of $1 million.

A board member agreed, noting the district’s infrastructure is “getting old.”

McCasland, noting such federal money would go through the federal Bureau of Reclamation, said he would look into the idea.