Irrigation board OKs staggered season startup

The board that manages river irrigation from Cochiti Dam to Bosque del Apache voted Monday to start water deliveries as early as March 21 for most Socorro County farmers, with subsequent staggered kickoff dates beginning in the district’s southernmost regions and working north.

The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District said the adapted startup will help the state deliver runoff water to Elephant Butte Reservoir while still enabling farmers to water crops.

“We’re focusing on winter wheat, we’re trying to figure out new seed in the ground, and really targeting those places that need that early shot of water,” said Jason Casuga, the district’s acting CEO and chief engineer. “And then (we’re) looking at getting into our rotations by that second to third week in April on our normal rotations.”

New Mexico owes an estimated 41 billion gallons of water to downstream users under the Rio Grande Compact.

Water operations manager Anne Marken said that the debt, along with major reconstruction of El Vado Dam, will severely restrict how much Rio Grande water the district can store for non-pueblo irrigation this year.

“The only storage water available to the (district) will be whatever its 2022 San Juan-Chama allocation is, which will be contingent on snowpack conditions in that watershed,” Marken said.

The San Juan-Chama Project routes water from the Colorado River Basin into the Rio Grande using mountain tunnels and diversion dams.

Water deliveries in the Belen division could start as early as March 28 under the approved plan.

Albuquerque area irrigators could begin watering crops on April 4 if water supplies permit, with Cochiti division farmers following within the next week.

Last year the district delayed the irrigation season by a month and ended a month early.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.