New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE › Chapter 26 - SURFACE WATER › Part 2 - ADMINISTRATION › Section 19.26.2.19 - WATER DEVELOPMENT PLANS

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A forty-year planning entity shall be allowed a water use
				  planning period, not to exceed forty years, to acquire and hold water rights
				  pursuant to Section
				  72-1-9
				  NMSA. A water development plan may be filed at any time. If a plan is not
				  already on file, a water development plan shall be filed with an application to
				  appropriate water or transfer a water right where the water right will be held
				  unused or undeveloped pursuant to the plan.
A. Planning period: The water rights of a
				forty-year planning entity subject to this section shall be based upon the
				reasonably projected additional needs for water within forty years set out in a
				water development plan. The implementation of the plan shall not exceed a
				forty-year period from the date the forty-year planning entity files with the
				state engineer an application to change the place or purpose of use of a water
				right pursuant to the plan or an application for a new appropriation pursuant
				to the plan.
B. Water development
				plan - content: A water development plan shall include the following
				information: the name and address of the owner of record of the water rights
				subject to the plan, a summary of all water rights subject to the plan, the
				place and purpose of use of the identified water rights, the historical and
				current water use, the historical and existing population served by the
				identified water rights, reasonable population projections, implemented water
				conservation measures, planned water conservation measures, a summary of the
				per capita water use including a comparison with the per capita water use of
				other similar forty-year planning entities, reasonably projected additional
				needs - taking into account the variability of surface water supply and the
				sustainability of groundwater supply - for water within forty years, and any
				other information the state engineer deems necessary. If a development plan
				lacks any of this information, it may be returned to the forty-year planning
				entity for completion.
C. Filing
				fee: A fee of $100 must accompany a water development plan.
D. Return of plan: The state engineer may
				return the plan to the forty-year planning entity, with a statement of
				corrections required, if it is found to be faulty or incomplete.
E. Approval of plan: Upon review of the plan,
				if the state engineer finds the plan to be reasonable, the plan and projected
				needs of the planning entity will be approved by the state engineer.
				Notification of the approval shall be given to the planning entity.
F. Water rights held pursuant to plan: For
				permits for water rights acquired by forty-year planning entities pursuant to a
				forty-year plan, the state engineer may grant extensions of time which in
				combination extend the time allowed by the permit up to forty (40) years from
				the date of the application where:
(1) the
				planning entity acquires and holds the water right pursuant to a water
				development plan approved by the state engineer; and
(2) upon acquisition of the water right it
				files with the state engineer an application to change the place or purpose of
				use of the water right pursuant to the water development plan; and
(3) the quantity of water associated with the
				water right, together with the quantity of water associated with the other
				water rights and permits held pursuant to the plan, does not exceed the
				reasonably projected additional needs for water within forty years set out in
				the plan.