Photos (in slideshow at the bottom) and article by Mary Alice Murphy

The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission's open house held at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, had already attracted 60 individuals when it still had almost two hours to go.

The survey on the statewide rate planning process and its decisions will impact every user of water, whether you own a farm, a garden, or simply use water to drink, cook with or bathe in. If you missed the in-person open house, the survey is available online [link below], with a deadline for Aug. 18, for everyone in the state to participate and give their feedback.

The purpose of the open house was to educate attendees and get their input on the water planning process going on at the state level.

Tables encircled the room, with each one having one of 15 questions, most of which gave you several options to choose from to express your choices and opinions on how the formal planning process should continue.

All asked for short comments if the individual wished to make certain points, and some had larger cards to fill out for longer comments.

The survey does not require you to answer every question, and you may have your own questions on what might be the right choice in some instances.

This author and photographer thought, for instance that the districts should be based on the hydrology-based parameters, rather than the New Mexico Council of Governments districts.

However, a conversation with Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments Executive Director Priscilla Lucero, brought up another point. "One important piece is securing funding for projects by all entities working on water systems. Every entity is different, but all have their own challenges. Regional water planning is critical because it provides efficiency, reduces an individual entity's costs and addresses workforce issues."

She pointed out that the COG districts make sense because they have access to different sources of funding for all sorts of projects, including water projects.

The open houses have taken place across the state and a few have not yet been held, but everyone is encouraged to participate in the planning.

Although Silver City had a good turnout, with more arriving, one of the organizers said many venues had had only a few respondents.

If you are a water user, you need to give your feedback, so that everyone's needs are met in the future.
The slideshow at the bottom of this article, shows most of the questions that need to be answered for the survey, so they may give you some thinking points before you fill out the survey.

The link for the website is https://mainstreamnm.org/

And most importantly, the online survey can be found at this link.
https://mainstreamnm.org/online-open-house/

Please participate and make your thoughts known. Your participation will help determine the future availability of water coming out of your faucet or hose. Be involved and give your opinions.

To pause the slide show, mouse over the image.