With $50 Million Loan, El Paso to Acquire Dell Valley Land for Water Rights This Year
El Paso Water Utilities plans to acquire 26,000 acres of Dell Valley land later this year, a critical step in the city’s long-term plan to import the Valley’s groundwater for its drinking-water needs.
The utility does not plan to begin importing Dell Valley groundwater until 2050. The land acquisition is just one step in what is likely to be a long and complex process to establish a water-import operation, and the utility appears to be laying the groundwork for that long-term project.
EPWU was awarded a $50-million low-interest loan from the Texas Water Development Board to acquire the Dell Valley property. The loan, announced last Thursday, July 23, is part of $3.9 billion in financial assistance the TWDB approved through the new State Water Implementation Fund. That fund, known as SWIFT, was approved by voters and the state legislature in 2013.
EPWU did not identify what specific property or properties it plans to buy. In an email, Christina Montoya, a spokesperson for EPWU, said the utility has “spoken to several landowners” and is “still in negotiations” to purchase the property. Montoya said the TWDB loan is expected to close in December – and that the land acquisition “would likely not happen” until that time.
The land EPWU is seeking lies within the boundaries of Hudspeth County Underground Water Conservation District #1, Montoya said, and the utility plans to tap into the Bone Springs-Victorio Peak Aquifer, which underlies Dell Valley and sustains the community’s farming economy. The utility will likely seek to purchase land in the aquifer’s “high production” zone – in or near Dell Valley.
Acquiring the land does not mean the utility can begin pumping and exporting water. Under the rules of the Dell Valley water district, for water to become available for export an irrigating farmer or other “validation permit” holder would have to retire that permit – perhaps after being paid by EPWU. The utility would then need to apply for an “operating permit.” With that permit the utility could pump and export each year up to half an acre-foot of water per acre of land, or a maximum of 13,000 acre-feet for 26,000 acres.
With the $50 million, the water utility anticipates acquiring land at a cost of just less than $2,000 an acre. That amount is likely insufficient to purchase land with validation permits – validated land in the Valley has traded hands for as much as $5,000 an acre in recent years.
Under the terms of the regional water plan, El Paso will import 10,000 acre-feet of water from Dell City beginning in 2050. Montoya said the utility is “taking advantage of the SWIFT funding now to purchase the land with low-interest loans.”
The city plans to increase the amount of Dell Valley water it imports to 20,000 acre-feet by 2060. Montoya said that, in addition to acquiring the 26,000 acres with the loan funding, the utility “will continue to pursue strategic water rights/ land acquisitions in the Dell City area, as needed, to meet the future water supply needs.”
While the Valley’s abundant groundwater resources might someday be fully dedicated to satisfying El Paso’s drinking-water needs, the amount of water the utility plans to import is only a fraction of what is currently being pumped in the Valley. Water district officials estimate that the Valley’s farmers are currently pumping 90,000 acre-feet or more of groundwater each year.
Unlike most aquifers in the region, the Bone Springs-Victorio Peak is a fast-recharging aquifer, recharged by both local rains and rain and snowfall in the Sacramento Mountains to the north. But at current pumping levels, the aquifer is effectively being “mined”; hydrologists estimate 75,000 acre-feet a year as a sustainable pumping level. In an effort to manage the aquifer sustainably, water district board members plan reduce the water allotment for irrigating farmers from 4 acre-feet per acre a year to 3 acre-feet in January 2016.
In addition to its plans for Dell Valley water, EPWU plans to tap into the Capitan Reef Aquifer from property the utility owns southeast of Dell City, on the Hudspeth-Culberson county line. The utility acquired that land – the Armstrong or Diablo Farm – several years ago, and plans to import 10,000 acre-feet of water from the property beginning in 2050. At that property, EPWU purchased the land from the Armstrong family, and then leased it back for the family to continue farming. The utility might pursue a similar approach in Dell Valley.
Late last year, EPWU initiated a third water-import project in Hudspeth County. The utility leased land on the Diablo Plateau northeast of Fort Hancock from the Texas General Land Office, and water planners think they might be able to begin importing 10,000 to 20,000 acre-feet of water a year from that land soon.
That project – on the so-called Diablo Lease – hit a snag this spring, when a test well the utility drilled to assess the extent of water resources collapsed. Montoya said last week that the utility has re-drilled the well and is in the process of installing a test pump.
With local groundwater resources, from the Hueco Bolson, diminishing, El Paso water planners have been seeking to diversify water sources for the city for decades. After sustained water-conservation efforts, per-capita water use in El Paso is now lowest of any city in Texas. The city is home to the largest inland water desalination plant in the nation, and in 2018, the water utility plans to open a plant that will purify 10 million gallons of water per day from the Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant.
But the city’s water planners still foresee significant water shortfalls in the coming decades. Drought on the Rio Grande has further pinched the city’s water supply.
“Simply increasing local groundwater supplies to increase water production will not meet future demands,” Montoya said. “EPWU has always maintained that additional supplies are needed. That includes diversified strategies like importing groundwater, additional surface water production, additional conservation and advanced water purification.”