State Engineer Mike Hamman

From the Office of the State Engineer:

SANTA FE – State Engineer Mike Hamman on Friday issued a statement upon learning the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the recommendation of the Special Master in the Texas v. New Mexico water case to enter the Consent Decree submitted by New Mexico, Texas and Colorado over the division of Rio Grande water south of Elephant Butte dam.

“We are disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court has remanded the case back to the Court’s Special Master for further proceedings,” State Engineer Mike Hamman said. “We need to keep working to make the aquifers in the Lower Rio Grande region sustainable, and lasting solutions are more likely to come from parties working together than from continued litigation.”

The Rio Grande provides water to approximately six million people in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and Mexico. This decision further delays resolution of this dispute between Texas and New Mexico that has been in litigation since 2013.

About The Office of the State Engineer:

The Office of the State Engineer is charged with administering the state’s water resources. The State Engineer has power over the supervision, measurement, appropriation, and distribution of all surface and groundwater in New Mexico, including streams and rivers that cross state boundaries. The State Engineer is also Secretary of the Interstate Stream Commission.

The nine-member Interstate Stream Commission is charged with separate duties including protecting New Mexico’s right to water under eight interstate stream compacts, ensuring the state complies with each of those compacts as well as investigating, conserving and protecting the waters of the State, in addition to water planning. https://www.ose.state.nm.us.