Unsettled Waters: A blog on water rights in the American West

Quickpost: I know what I promised, and that I'm breaking it. More on Andean glaciers, melt-water, in the next post (honest). Here, I'm just going to point out Aquadoc's latest post on exempt wells in the West, and his useful (.pdf) document written by Bracken on this really good overview of Western States and their differential policies on exempt wells. Treatment on New Mexico starts on p 171(-175) if you want a short-cut on reading. Fascinating reading, and a good follow-up to the original post from February on the problem of domestic wells.

On the 22nd, the Bounds case was heard in the New Mexico Court of Appeals. This case, based out of a dispute in southwestern New Mexico, has a fairy long track record now. You can see one take on this dispute, from 2008, courtesy of Aquadoc. The same source also put together a more recent update , prior to the hearing on the 22nd, with some helpful materials and links also (courtesy MC!). The plaintiffs have allegedly become a real thorn to both state-level agencies and to their neighbors as they try to enforce rigid prior appropriation enforcement, in this case for domestic well impairment effects. But in some ways, it forces the hand for both OSE domestic well directives and New Mexico counties to address the schizophrenic water policies that are everywhere a problem in the west. Frank Titus remarked on this back in 2005 ( partial story link here ). How can the left hand manage water resources, if the right hand is forced to issue permits without regard to third party effects...