Dell Valley Irrigation Allotments to Remain Unchanged
The board of Hudspeth County Underground Water Conservation District #1 voted unanimously Tuesday (March 12) to leave the irrigation allotment for Dell Valley farmers unchanged for the next two years, even as the water table is dropping at a rate that could prompt reductions in the coming years.
Water district board member Robert Carpenter said that to abruptly curtail access to water would be unfair to the Valley’s farmers, who plan their operations months and years in advance, and that the board needed to take a measured and patient approach.
“Farmers need to know early, so they can plan,” he said.
At the current allotment, irrigators can pump up to 4 acre-feet of water per acre of permitted land each year. Under the district’s rules, that allotment must be cut to 3 acre-feet per acre if the elevation of the aquifer drops below 3,560 feet above sea level. The aquifer’s average elevation in 2012 was 3,561.1 feet, and, during the last three years, the aquifer has exhibited a downward trend of 1.5 to 2 feet a year. If the trend continues, the board will either have to cut the allotment in two years or act to change its own rules.
The chart tracks water levels in the Bone Springs-Victorio Peak Aquifer as measured from the city well in the Dell Valley. Water elevation can change between 15 and 25 feet during a given year, as pumping during the growing season depletes the aquifer, and as the aquifer rises when irrigation stops. A steady downward trend in the water elevation is evident beginning in 2009.
The board has also adopted a policy of sustainability and has committed to managing the aquifer in such a way that it does not drop at all during the next 50 years. If the downward trend continues, leaving the irrigation allotment unchanged could run counter to the board’s long-term goals.
Al Blair, who provides engineering and hydrology consulting to the district, told the board Tuesday that last year saw the sharpest decline in the water table he has seen in his dozen years of work with the district, and he said the aquifer may be at its lowest point in more than 30 years. Blair also recommended that the irrigation allotment not be cut this year, but said that, barring a change in rules, it was his “prediction that the board will have to curtail in two years.”
Blair attributed the relatively sharp decline in the aquifer level to two factors: drought conditions and heavy pumping for alfalfa production.
Though the hydrology of the Bone Springs-Victorio Peak Aquifer, which underlies the Dell Valley, is complex, much of the aquifer’s recharge comes from rain- and snowfall in New Mexico’s Sacramento Mountains. Blair said that changes in precipitation in the mountains are reflected in aquifer levels here as quickly as six months later, and he said that intense drought conditions in the mountains probably account for more than half of the recent decline in the Valley’s water table.
Economic factors – specifically high hay prices and lower prices for fuel – have motivated local farmers to maximize alfalfa production, Blair said. Blair said he thought it was likely that some farmers had, in recent years, pumped water in excess of their allotments.
The water district requires that irrigators place a meter on each of their wells to measure the amount of water they pump, but Blair said that half or more of those meters have not functioned correctly. The district has recently made an effort to see that all wells in the district have functioning meters, and Blair said he expects the district to be able to gather comprehensive and accurate information on pumping in the Valley this year. He said that the meters would also discourage any over-pumping, which in turn could slow the downward trend of the aquifer. A change in economics – like a drop in hay prices – could also reduce pumping levels here, he said.
Information on the average water level of the aquifer is based on data from a single well in the Valley. While Blair said he was confident that the figures presents an accurate picture of levels across the aquifer, the district is also installing this year five new water level recorders. Data from two of those recorders will be available on the Internet.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, the board tabled action on the district’s Groundwater Management Plan, a document that must be updated every five years and that, among other things, identifies the amount of water deemed to be available for pumping from the aquifer. Blair said he needed to incorporate new lands that are being brought under cultivation this year into the document. He said that there will be about 3,000 more acres under cultivation in 2013 than there were in 2008, bringing the total acreage under cultivation in the Dell Valley to more than 24,000. He said this year’s new acreage was primarily associated with HDR Farms, which produces alfalfa for dairies in New Mexico.
The board also voted Tuesday to cancel elections scheduled for May 11, because only two candidates – precinct 2 incumbent Talley Davis and precinct 4 incumbent Roy Grant Gardiner – had filed to run for two open slots.
The board also a received a report from Blair and the district’s general manager, Randy Barker, about notices being issued for violations of district rules by permit holders. Barker said that a farmer had been identified who was pumping from a well without a meter and, after three verbal requests, had not corrected the situation. The irrigator will be issued a citation, Barker said. If the meter is still not installed, the district has the authority to obtain an injunction from the justice of the peace that would order utility companies to cut off service to the well – and the district could impose a fine of up to $10,000 a day, though the board would review the matter before any fine was issued.
