Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
A somewhat divided Arch Hurley Conservancy District board of directors last week allocated three inches of water per acre — the first time it had authorized the release of water from Conchas Lake in over three years.
The vote during the board’s regular meeting July 11 was 3-1, with board member Debra Mitchell casting the only dissenting vote after a long pause when she visibly agonized over her decision.
Board member John Griffiths made the motion to allocate water, and Larry Perkins seconded. Board member Jason Box was absent.
Mitchell and several other board members — along with a number of ranchers and farmers in attendance — said they were torn between allocating water and preserving it for next spring.
“My thoughts are we have an obligation to allocate water,” board President Robert Lopez said early in the meeting. “I don’t think we should deny it. As a board, if we have water in the lake, we need to open the opportunity for them.”
However, he pointed out demand for water this summer probably would be meager because it is too late in the season to plant cotton or corn. He said farmers might use the canals to irrigate hay or pasture, and that’s it.
Lopez added he didn’t anticipate using any water at his farm.
“I don’t see us allocating any more water this year,” he said.
Perkins said allocating water “is a really hard decision” and understood some constituents’ wishes to keep water in the lake for the 2024 growing season.
Mitchell said she was trying to balance her decision between farmers who wanted water and those who wanted to keep it in the lake.
“We probably won’t have water next year if we use it now,” she said.
Mitchell said farmers need to use water carefully if it is allocated.
“If we allocate, that’s it,” she said. “Make sure you plan on that. We won’t have a full lake of water if we keep doing this.”
The board quizzed nine farmers and ranchers at the meeting about their thoughts on allocation.
Only three unequivocally stated their wish to release water so they could plant alfalfa or milo or irrigate pasture.
Others said they would use water if it were available but expressed a desire to keep lake levels sufficient so they could use it in spring 2024.
District manager Franklin McCasland said after the meeting it was the board’s first allocation of water since March 2020. Persistent drought had prevented the release of water since that time.
McCasland said it would take seven to nine days to charge the irrigation system with water. He said it would take three to five days for district workers to clean laterals.
McCasland reported that Conchas Lake’s levels the day of the meeting stood at 4,176.4 feet, an increase of 2 1/2 feet from the previous month.
The lake rose another 11 feet the month before that, mostly due to storms in late May that caused widespread flood damage to county roads.
In July 2022, the lake’s level was 4,159.5 feet — nearly 17 feet lower.
Despite rainfall in recent weeks, eastern New Mexico remained generally dry. The U.S. Drought Monitor map of July 13 showed much of the eastern third of the state in abnormally dry or moderate drought conditions. A sizable chunk of southeast New Mexico remained in severe drought conditions.