Major Cities Seeking Taos Water Listed

(See Sunday Friction Post re: Turmoil: Life Imitates Art–Dunn House Parking Lot CLOSED!)

Sanchez Announces School Board Candidacy!

Taos Friction urges voters to take a look at the NYT’s editorial and Wall St. Journal excerpt below. Both concern the future of water in the Southwest and West. Taos is directly affected due to downstream demands affecting local water rights, calls on the river for more water, and high-density population centers in contrast to our small numbers but great water resources.

The current election for Gov. in New Mexico is about future water decisions i.e. political power and the decisions regarding the sales of water rights and privatization of public water systems. We believe Democrats and their representatives are more inclined to defend parciantes and residents with water rights as well as ranchers and farmers, recreation users and environmentalists.
The water you save may be your own.

The Colorado River’s Future
EDITORIAL: NYT (Published: October 31, 2010)

“Last month, Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, committed $1.5 million to establish a study group focusing on the Colorado River basin. Modest as the dollar amount sounds, this is a very good investment. The study will be the first of three river basin studies — called the WaterSMART program — aimed at measuring the nation’s water demands and resources, including the potential impacts of climate change.

“Starting with the Colorado River makes sense. Since 1922, its water has been allocated among seven Western states under a legal compact. The amount each state can draw from the river is based on water levels measured in 1922, after several wet years.

“There is a big gap between the amount of water flowing then — about 16.4 million acre-feet per year — and the actual flow in normal years, which averages about 13.5 million acre-feet. The situation has been made even worse by 11 straight years of drought. The average annual flow in the heart of the drought (2000 to 2004) was 9.6 million acre-feet.

“Historical tree-ring samples, whose growth patterns indicate rainfall, suggest that the recent drought is not an anomaly and that drought has been the normal condition in much of the river basin for centuries. And droughts are likely to continue as the climate warms.

“So far the states have been making do, thanks to water stored in reservoirs along the river. But they are managing a depleted resource with a forbidding future. Lake Mead, near Las Vegas and the largest reservoir on the river, is at its lowest level since it was first filled 75 years ago. The river’s flow is approaching the low-level mark that would allow states in the upper basin to withhold water from states in the lower basin — a change that would hit Nevada hardest.

“The seven states have already begun intensive water conservation efforts. It seems clear that these efforts will have to be redoubled, not only to meet human needs but also to protect the diverse ecosystems the river nourishes on its way from its headwaters in the Colorado Rockies to the Gulf of California. The study will help chart that course, and, from the looks of things, its findings cannot come a moment too soon.”

The Ten Biggest American Cities That Are Running Out Of Water–Wall St. Journal (Posted: October 29, 2010 at 3:29 pm)

“Some parts of the United States have begun to run low on water. That is probably not much of a surprise to people who live in the arid parts of America that have had water shortages for decades or even centuries…”

“The water problem is worse than most people realize, particularly in several large cities which are occasionally low on water now and almost certainly face shortfalls in a few years. This is particularly true if the change in global weather patterns substantially alters rainfall amounts in some areas of the US.

“24/7 Wall St. looked at an October, 2010 report on water risk by environmental research and sustainability group, Ceres. We also considered a comprehensive July 2010 report from the National Resources Defense Council, which mapped areas at high risk of water shortage conflict. 24/7 Wall St also did its own analysis of water supply and consumption in America’s largest cities, and focused on the thirty largest metropolitan areas. One goal was to identify potential conflicts in regions, which might have disputed rights over large supplies of water and the battles that could arise from these disputes. And, 24/7 Wall St. examined geographic areas, which have already been plagued by drought and water shortages off and on.

“The analysis allowed us to choose ten cities which are likely to face severe shortages in the relatively near-term future. Some of these are likely to be obvious to the reader. The area around Los Angeles was once too dry to sustain the population of a huge city. But, infrastructure was built that allowed water to be pumped in from east of the region. Las Vegas had similar problems. It was part of a great desert until Lake Meade was created by the Hoover dam built on the Colorado River.

“Severe droughts that could affect large cities are first a human problem. The competition for water could make life in some of America’s largest cities nearly unbearable for residents. A number of industries rely on regular access to water. Some people would be out of work if these industries had poor prospects for continued operation. The other important trouble that very low water supplies creates is that cities have sold bonds based on their needs for infrastructure to move, clean, and supply water. Credit ratings agencies may not have taken drought issues into account at the level that they should. Extreme disruptions of the water supply of any city would have severe financial consequences.

“The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report takes the following into account when assessing the likelihood of water shortages: “The risk to water sustainability is based on the following criteria: (1) projected water demand as a share of available precipitation; (2) groundwater use as a share of projected available precipitation; (3) susceptibility to drought; (4) projected increase in freshwater withdrawals; and (5) projected increase in summer water deficit.”

“The ten cities on this list are the ones with the most acute exposure to problems, which could cause large imbalances of water supply and demand. There are a number of metropolitan areas which could face similar problems but their risks are not quite as high. The water problem for US cities is, although it may not be evident, one of the largest issues that faces urban areas over the next ten years.
These are the ten largest cities by population that have the greatest chance of running out of water.”

Those cities in parenthesis affect Taos least. Those listed affect Taos directly. New Mexico’s historic water resource and watersheds in Northern Taos County are officially under siege by water wheelers and dealers in this election.

(10. Orlando, FL 9. Atlanta, GA, 6. Fort Worth, Texas; 5. San Francisco Bay Area, CA, 4. San Antonio, Texas, 2. Houston, TX)

The cities most affecting New Mexico:

No. 8. Is Tucson, AZ: “Major Water Supply: local ground water Population (U.S. rank): 543,000 (32nd)
Population Growth Rate: 20% since 2000
Average Annual Rainfall: 12.17 in…In addition to this, the city is currently bringing in 314,000 acre-feet per year from the Colorado River under the Central Arizona Project.” However, Tucson is growing rapidly, adding more than 20,000 people since 2000. This, combined with the political uncertainty of the Central Arizona Project allocation, places Tucson at extreme risk for future water shortages.”

7. Las Vegas, NV: “Major Water Supply: Lake Mead/Colorado River Population (U.S. rank): 567,000 (28th)
Population Growth Rate: 18.6% since 2000
Average Annual Rainfall: 4.5 in…Unfortunately, the lake is 59% empty and is approaching its first water shortage ever.”

3. Phoenix, AZ: Major Water Supply: Colorado River Basin
Population (U.S. rank): 1,593,659 (5th)
Population Growth Rate: 21.2% since 2000
Average annual rainfall: 8.3 in. Like many of the other western cities on this list, Phoenix is extremely dependent on water imported from the Colorado River

1. Los Angeles, CA

Major Water Supply: Colorado River Basin Population (U.S. rank): 3,831,868 (2nd)
Population Growth Rate: 3.7%
Average annual rainfall: 14.77 in. In the 1980’s, Los Angeles suffered a major crisis when the city was forced to stop using 40% of its drinking water due to industrial runoff contamination. Like Las Vegas, the city now relies on importing water from the Colorado River via hundreds of miles of aqueducts

(Writers: Charles B. Stockdale, Michael B. Sauter, Douglas A. McIntyre)

Local School Board Race Begins

(Press Release) Gene Sanchez, current Town of Taos Councilman, has announced his intention to run for a seat on the Taos Municipal School Board, District 5 – a seat currently held by board president, Lorraine Coca-Ruiz.

Mr. Sanchez has consistently attended school board meetings since 2007, and he was a member of the Parent, Teacher, Student Association. He has served on the Taos Municipal School’s Citizens’ Oversight Committee and the School’s DistrictFacility Committee.

His priorities as a school board member include higher standards for accountability, analyzing achievement gaps and the low graduation rate and working towards closing these gaps. He believes vocational tech opportunities and expanded efforts for teamwork between parents, teachers, students, administration and the board will help students.

Mr. Sanchez has been part of a team aimed at increasing the awareness of the opportunities for special education students.

Gene Sanchez can be reached at 575-770-3522 or by email to genesanchez@taosnet.com.