The New Mexico First Town Hall on the Arizona Water Settlements Act ended, after a day and a half of discussions, at noon today, Friday, Feb. 17.

About 100 area residents took part in the town hall, including representatives from the general public, businesses, the environmental sector, and local government officials. Participants were broken down into five different rooms, each with a facilitator and recorder. Each room included a variety of interests and values, enlivening the discussions at times.

The intent of the town hall was to help the Interstate Stream Commission make informed decisions on which of the Tier-2 applications were preferred by area stakeholders and should be furthered for more study and possible funding through the Act.

The 2004 AWSA allocated to the four-county area of Grant, Catron, Luna and Hidalgo, an annual average 14,000 acre-feet of additional Gila Basin water and $66 million for water projects up to $128 million for a New Mexico Unit, which would be paid on a construction schedule.

The water would be available through contract with the Central Arizona Project and paid for by users. The AWSA requires the CAP to fulfill senior water rights downstream from New Mexico in Arizona.

The Consumptive Use and Forbearance Agreement, an agreement among parties to the Act, stipulates how much water may be taken from the Gila and San Francisco rivers at any time, while maintaining a minimal flow.

Tom Bates, representing Deming, welcomed the participants to the town hall.

“We are approaching the end of a long journey for many of us,” Bates said. “After this, our desires will be clearer.”

He said the Gila/San Francisco Water Commission would do a similar exercise at its meeting at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, and then on Feb. 29, the Interstate Stream Commission will make its decisions.

Planning has been ongoing for many years, with several permutations of the process. The Southwest New Mexico Water Planning Group, which is named in the act and was composed of elected officials from the four counties, was the first to undertake trying to decide what would be the best uses of the water and funding. It later created a joint-powers agreement and changed its name to the Gila/San Francisco Water Commission.

A Coordinating Council was set up, which involved various state agencies. It was squelched by then-Gov. Bill Richardson, who requested that a stakeholder process be implemented to allow every interest to be represented.

After several years of stakeholders being unable to come to consensus, the ISC, realizing that time was running out, created a two-tier application process for proposals.

The first set of proposals sent to the ISC included more than 70 projects. The ISC requested stakeholders to winnow down the number. Because of the polarization of interests, with compromise seemingly impossible, the ISC undertook to set up an evaluation panel of five representatives from state agencies. The agencies involved were the ISC, the Office of the State Engineer, Game and Fish Department, Environment Department, and Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

Stakeholders, in meetings and conference calls, defined and refined criteria that the evaluation panel was to use in its deliberations.

During the Tier-1 process, 45 proposals were considered, with some not meeting AWSA requirements and the criteria set forth by stakeholders. Those not meeting the criteria did not pass to Tier 2.

After the Tier-2 process, 20 proposals remained and were scored and ranked by evaluation panel members.

These proposals were the ones discussed at the town hall.

After Bates’ welcoming remarks, two videos from U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall were shown. Bingaman was in the Senate when the AWSA was passed. He said he worked hard to “make the AWSA flexible for New Mexico counties.” He also is a founding member, along with retired Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico First, which hosted the town hall. The purpose of New Mexico First is to “have residents participate in meaningful discussions on important issues for the state,” Bingaman said.

Udall said residents of New Mexico “have always found creative solutions to gather and utilize water.”

Silver City resident Sam Redford, a New Mexico First board member, also welcomed the participants and introduced ISC Deputy Director Craig Roepke.

Roepke spoke about the act and how the ISC is likely to consider the results of the town hall.

“The AWSA is made up of 62 settlements, of which the AWSA is only one,” Roepke said. “It is also a small part of the funding. The additional 14,000 acre-feet is ‘not very much, equaling almost 50 percent of the currently available supply in the Gila River.’”

The ISC adopted a policy it would adhere to in the Gila Basin. It includes protecting the environment and promoting present and future water uses, while using the best available science.

He pointed out that $128 million “represents a huge bonanza for southwest New Mexico, but will not solve all of its water problems.”

“If we are to avoid the intractable conflicts the ISC deals with every day, conflicts among environmental needs, development of municipal water supplies and agricultural uses, we need to develop new water supplies and use extreme conservation measures,” Roepke said.

He addressed a rumor that taxpayers would be saddled with the costs of using the additional water.

“It has been ISC policy from the beginning that the users will bear the costs of the contracted water,” Roepke said.

He mentioned a draft evaluation-process scoring memorandum he had sent to stakeholders.

“This is a draft,” Roepke said. “The memo will not be final until the Feb. 29 meeting of the ISC.”

He also said the evaluation process had been unique in his experience with state government.

“Normally, an agency will take input from stakeholders and deliberate internally,” Roepke said. “We enlisted help from five state agencies. We bent over backward to include various points of view. The ISC did not pick the evaluators; the agencies did. Our intent was to get a diversity of input.”

The scoring process, he said, was created by the stakeholders and designed to eliminate bias.

On the topic of how the ISC will consider the town hall report, Roepke said, that after input from at least 200 public meetings and hours and hours of public testimony, “I can’t say how much weight the commissioners will give to this town hall.”

Heather Balas, New Mexico First president, said: “We want to make sure today to get documentation of where we have agreement and where we don’t.”

The organization has 33 board members, with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans and a few independents and others, as well as geographic diversity.

“We have gathered for two reasons—to inform the ISC decision and to create a report for the community, because we believe there is value in the information beyond this event,” Balas said.

She explained that consensus was not the goal of the day, but rather to document the likes, concerns and questions each participant had about the 20 proposals.

“This group is spectacularly diversified,” Balas said. “It is among the most balanced we’ve ever seen.”

The final report will be a synthesis of the likes, concerns and questions and a summary of the top priorities, she explained.

The participants divided into groups by the color dot on their nametags. The rest of the town hall was spent in conversations and discussions on the 20 proposals.