Committee advances changes to Strategic Water Reserve to allow aquifer recharge and add supplementary benefits

The Appropriations & Finance Committee moved Senate Bill 37 forward after testimony from conservation groups, water utilities and bill sponsors. The bill would make the Strategic Water Reserve nonreverting (so appropriations can carry over), set a $15 million cap on the fund, add aquifer recharge as a primary purpose and allow the Interstate Stream Commission to consider supplementary in-stream benefits when prioritizing transactions.

Proponents, including Western Resource Advocates and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, said the reserve has been a useful tool for compact compliance and endangered-species protections and that the changes would allow more flexibility for aquifer recharge and multi-benefit projects. Christina Fisher of Think New Mexico said the reserve has proved effective over the past 20 years and urged the committee to adopt the changes.

Committee members asked detailed technical questions about storage rights, appraisal of market value, whether the fund could be used for aquifer injections, and whether the changes increase the number of eligible basins. Sponsors said the fund would remain focused on in-stream benefits and compact or listed-species purposes; aquifer recharge was added as an explicit purpose and could include groundwater acquisitions or use of losing stream reaches that naturally infiltrate water to aquifers.

The committee recorded a do-pass motion; a roll-call tally is not included in the excerpt provided. Ranking member Chatfield noted the bill preserves the appraisal and prioritization processes administered by the Interstate Stream Commission and said he would vote yes in committee.

Supporters said the nonreverting language is necessary because water transactions often take more than one fiscal year to complete; the $15 million cap was described as an accountability measure.