(SANTA FE, New Mexico) – The water and funding provided through the Arizona Water Settlement Act (AWSA) give New Mexico a valuable opportunity to reduce vulnerability to extreme events including drought and floods. The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (NMISC) is analyzing 16 proposals on how to best utilize the water and funding given to New Mexico through the AWSA. The AWSA allocates to New Mexico an additional annual average of 14,000 acre-feet of water from the Gila Basin and up to $128 million in funding. The water can be used only in New Mexico.
 
“Our goal with the AWSA is to create a synergy to help our cultures and communities meet their water needs, while protecting and improving the valuable Gila environment and its endangered species,” said NMISC Director Estevan López. “Our scientists and engineers are also evaluating options using the AWSA water and funding to reduce drought impacts.”
 
“We are three years into the worst drought in recorded history for our state,” said Gila Basin Manager Craig Roepke. “Even as water demand in New Mexico increases, this drought has reduced the available water supply, dried streams and rivers in the Gila Basin, and made survival for our endangered species more precarious. The water and funding in the AWSA gives New Mexico a rare opportunity to reduce our citizens’ and rivers’ vulnerability to drought.”
 
For more information, please visit: www.nmawsa.org
 
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.

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