Your turn: It s time for water justice in Southwestern New Mexico
Your turn
I have watched, frustrated, for more than 15 years as the Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) and the NM Central Arizona Project Entity (NMCAPE) have floundered in their efforts to plan an unaffordable Gila River diversion. These groups have wasted more than $15 million in Federal funding on diversion planning, while millions of dollars in local community water projects in southwest New Mexico go unfunded.
Fortunately, the diversion planning finally came to an end this past June, when ISC commissioners voted to stop funding work on the project. The writing was on the wall: the diversion was doomed to fail since the project cost too much and farmers wouldn’t be able to afford the cost of the water.