County Ponders a Future Without Water

Bees that pollinate Dan Field’s watermelon plants normally slake their thirst on morning dew. This year, ranch hands had to haul water so the bees wouldn’t die.

It’s been a dry year in Lea County, but the county’s water problems run deeper than the six-month drought. Some believe the water woes could ruin businesses and turn the county’s cities into ghost towns.

No rivers wind through Lea County, which has a population of more than 65,700. Water is pumped from a natural underground reservoir to irrigate crops such as corn, watermelon, peanuts, cotton and alfalfa and to provide water for sheep and cattle.

“It would take 1,900 years to recharge what we’ve used in the last 50 years,” said state Rep. Stevan Pearce. “We’re already pumping sand.”

There are far more claims to water in southeastern New Mexico than there is water available for ranchers, farmers and cities to use--and demand is increasing.

Because Lea County is on the edge of the bowl-shaped aquifer, it is one of the first places to feel the effects of the dropping water table. Pumps in some areas are literally spitting sand. If a well goes dry, farmers like Field can try to drill a little deeper. But in many cases the wells must be abandoned.

As Field tours the checkerboard back roads in the area, he points out farm after farm that has gone bankrupt--in most cases because of a lack of water.

“If I lose my water . . . I won’t be shipping melons to New York and Los Angeles and Chicago this week,” Field said. “There won’t be any peanuts at the ballgame.”

Members of the Lea County Water Users Assn., formed recently to deal with the growing problem, criticize the state for its plan to buy water rights in the nearby Pecos River.

The state needs to send the water to Texas, which already was awarded $14 million when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New Mexico had violated the terms of a 1947 water compact.

New Mexico plans to spend an additional $18.3 million to buy and retire water rights from the city of Carlsbad and a potash mining operation based in Carlsbad.

The sellers are expected to draw water from the aquifer to replace the water they sold. The association says that means the state is sacrificing their economic health to save businesses in the Pecos River Valley.

“What if you couldn’t take a shower or a bath or you couldn’t go swimming or have a lawn--but your neighbors did?” Pearce asked. “They’re sitting on top of a replenishable water supply. We’re totally dependent on ground water, and it’s a nonrechargeable supply.”

The association has sued to stop the deal with the potash mine.

If the lawsuit is successful, “it would remove from us the only tool that we have to avoid the disasters that a net shortfall to Texas would create,” said Norman Guame, stream engineer for New Mexico’s Interstate Stream Commission.

New Mexico taxpayers could be liable for about $236 million in damages for the first year the state violates the terms of the compact again, Guame said.

Another threat to Lea County’s ground water comes from some neighboring Texas farmers who are pulling water as fast as they can from the same aquifer.

One neighboring Texas county has no restrictions on water pumping, and the difference becomes quickly apparent with a glance to the east. At the state line, brown New Mexico dirt gives way to lush green Texas crops.

Texas farmers “are getting a tremendous economic benefit from water that’s being pulled out from under us,” Pearce said.

When it comes to water, though, it’s never that simple, said Texas state Rep. Gary Walker, who lives in Texas’ Yoakum County, another Lea County neighbor.

“The majority of counties [in Texas] do not have a water district and so there are no restrictions on how much water you can pump,” Walker said. “But we have restrictions [in Yoakum County], and we still have wells pumping air.”

Buster Goff, association chairman, admits that Lea County could have done more to protect its water over the last 50 years. “Well, we didn’t, so what we have to do is start,” Goff said.

Lea County Manager Dennis Holmberg said conservation, even if costly, would help. He especially would like the potash miners and oil drillers to find new ways to conserve.

Holmberg says the state is wasting money on water. He said some of the water bought by the state has been claimed by other water users in New Mexico.

Guame admits that the water rights purchases didn’t result in the full amount of water being delivered to Texas. But additional retirement of water rights “will allow us to say we have taken substantive efforts and have acted in good faith,” he said.

He said a recent study indicates the amount of pumping that would occur as a result of the purchases wouldn’t significantly affect Lea County.

Association members say their wells already are drying up and more pumping won’t help. They are commissioning a study of the aquifer to determine exactly how much water is available.

One estimate gives Lea County an adequate water supply for the next 50 years. But Field said the study is based on estimates made in the 1950s.

Farmers and ranchers who want to pass their land and way of life on to their children say 50 years isn’t much of a legacy. And when the state tells them how they will be worse off if New Mexico violates the compact again, they take the long view.

“It ain’t going to kill us any worse,” Field said with a tired grin. “The only thing that’s going to save the water is conservation and responsible use.”