The Water Assembly participates in a number of water research, planning,
education, and management activities:
Education and Outreach
Depending on available funding, activities we are proposing include:
- Present the "101 Water Issues" series, to be offered through University
of New Mexico Continuing Education as a six week introduction
on water.
- Develop outreach programs through media. Working with various entities,
such as water utilities and tribal governments, present a regular series
of publication articles about water problems and evolving water conditions
in the region. The outreach program is a part of the GIS model project.
- Design a county water conservation workshop and fair addressing
water issues. Local
governments and the public interact and take part in
various activities as well as hands-on
workshops.
 Development
of a GIS model in partnership with UNM Earth Data Analysis Center
(EDAC)
One way to attain the mission of the water plan--to balance water
use with renewable supply--is to illustrate potential outcomes by
creating a GIS model to allow users to visualize the restuls of specific
scenarios as maps. This project will provide a web-based application
for viewing the potential outcomes of specific water management decisions,
as reflected in changes in land use. For the pilot project, $125,000
is being sought for 2006.
Local Government Implementation Survey
Coming out of the monitoring
and implementation plan, the Water Assembly has joined
with the Water Resources Board to create a survey which MRCOG has
begun to administer.
Making this survey more robust and with more participants
would provide a better picture of what individual governments are
doing to implement
the water plan.
Symposia
Organize and host symposia on relevant topics, including:
- Rio Grande Compact 2006 - On March 23, the
Commissioners from New Mexico, Texas and Colorado
will meet to review and accept the Compact
accounting for 2005. The Assembly
hosted the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commissioner
speaking on what it means to our region. Based
on the response to this
Forum on the Compact, additional presentations
are planned.
- Active Water Resource Management and the
Strategic Water Reserve - the aim is to learn
about these two activities, how they inter-relate,
how they might be regulated, and how they mesh
with the state and regional water plans. Ideally,
the Water Assembly would co-host this with
other groups, including the OSE and ISC.
 Present an Upstream-Downstream
Workshop
Phase III
of the Water Study done by Papadopulos evaluated
three regional water plans. In essence, what it said was that only
if we implement everything
now can we hope to avoid a Pecos experience. To start
the process, the Water Dialogue proposes to organize a workshop with
the planning
regions of Soccoro/Sierra, Jemez y Sangre, and the
Middle Rio Grande to discuss similarities and conflicts, exploring
how the latter might
be dealt with through implementation.
Annual Assembly
In 2006 the Water Assembly will host its tenth Annual
Assembly. Building on last year's theme that
the region's water is overallocated, this year
the Assembly will focus on adjudication.
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