Article in Engineering News Record:
Real water: That's wet water, the stuff one needs for drinking, washing clothes, growing food, building houses and cooling power plants.
Paper water: That's the piece of paper that says how much real water someone has the legal right to use.
The result: Someone is going to go thirsty.
The situation is more difficult now that the state requires cities along the Rio Grande, including Santa Fe, to buy and transfer water rights to support their relentless population growth.
Former State Engineer Tom Turney estimates there are twice as many water rights promised in the lower Rio Grande as there is available water. It's hard to know whether there's enough actual water to satisfy all the claims on the Middle Rio Grande because the paper rights haven't all been quantified.
Water geeks debate who's responsible for this growing conundrum. The state engineer, farmers, developers, cities and a politically quagmired Legislature could all share the blame.
Regardless, the issue is affecting everyone in the state.
Developers, municipalities and county officials continue to buy, lease and transfer paper water rights in a kind of resource chess game. Nature holds the kings on both sides of the chessboard. No snow and no rain means no water in ditches, aquifers and pipes for exercising those water rights.
<a href="http://enr.construction.com/news/othersources/article.asp?SMDOCID=bhsuper_2007_09_21_SFNM_0000-3797-KEYWORD_Missing&SMContentSet=0">Water, Water</a>
