Taos officials get detailed update on Abeyta water-rights settlement, proposed production wells and airport utility work

Dominique Catron, senior water resource consultant at Daniel B. Stevens & Associates, briefed the Taos Town Council on June 23 on the Abeyta (also spelled Abeta in some materials) Water Rights Settlement, the town’s proposed replacement and production wells and how airport utility projects tie into the town’s water planning.

Catron summarized the settlement’s history and technical underpinnings, saying it began with litigation in 1969 and culminated in a multi-party agreement that Congress approved as part of the Claims Resolution Act in February 2010. She told council members the settlement required detailed hydrologic modeling and created a set of “mutual benefits” projects, including a program of production wells the town may drill and mitigation wells to offset groundwater pumping impacts on streams.

The technical baseline for the settlement is a hydrographic survey and a surface–groundwater model (Attachment 10 to the settlement). Catron said the town’s implementation priorities include drilling replacement or new production wells identified in the settlement model: a Baton (replacement) well intended initially for Kit Carson Park, a Rio Pueblo production well, a deeper Clower well on Los Cordovas Road and an option to drill on or near National Guard property. She described the longstanding proposal to replace the town’s nonfunctional Well 1 by drilling a new replacement well within the same model cell rather than constructing the small Baton well in Kit Carson Park.

Catron gave several figures discussed during the meeting: the Baton well as originally written was limited to 70 acre-feet; the town’s in‑town wellfield permit was described as about 917 acre‑feet (grandfathered); the town may appropriate up to 800 acre‑feet for new settlement wells under the settlement; and a rough offset requirement against San Juan‑Chama (Rio Grande) water was estimated at about 580 acre‑feet. Catron said an estimate for production from a re‑drilled Well 1 would be roughly 340 acre‑feet. She stressed these numbers are part of permitting and model calculations and not immediate changes to existing permits.

On mitigation wells, Catron explained how offsets work: the Office of the State Engineer (OSE) will run the groundwater model to quantify impacts from pumping and then require releases from mitigation wells to keep streams whole. She emphasized mitigation wells are not direct supplementary supply for acequias in low-flow months; they are accounting and offset tools. Several mitigation projects were described as having insufficient current funding and, in a few cases, uncertain party assignment for construction and operation.

Council members pressed Catron and town staff on practical details that bear on near-term planning: which existing permits remain in effect (the in‑town permit was described as grandfathered and not to be removed), whether the town keeps both the in‑town entitlement and the new 800‑acre‑foot allocation (staff said the town would retain the in‑town permit and receive the additional 800 acre‑feet for new wells), how trust water rights held for third parties can be transferred or leased (staff warned transfers are long, risky and subject to protests by settlement parties including Taos Pueblo), and a request that staff compile accounting and policy proposals to clarify the status of trust-held rights.

On funding and schedule, Catron said the Rio Pueblo well was drilled and nearing completion (pump and pitless adapter installation) and that well house construction and interconnections could move toward 2026 depending on contractor availability and permitting. She and town staff said Bureau of Reclamation funding has been allocated but that transaction costs, inflation and the scale of projects mean the existing settlement funds do not cover all work; prior legislative requests for supplemental federal funding have so far not produced additional appropriations. Catron encouraged the town to pursue state Water Trust Board funding for distribution‑system work and looping transmission lines at the moment projects are ready to construct.

Staff and council agreed on two near‑term directions: staff will continue negotiating refinements with the settlement parties (including the Pueblo) and will return with a proposal and accounting for trustee‑held water rights (Catron and staff indicated they expect to return with more detail in October); and town staff will prioritize bringing production wells on line (replacement of Well 1, Rio Pueblo, Clower) and completing transmission loop and interconnect work to strengthen the in‑town system before additional mitigation‑well projects are undertaken.

No formal council vote was taken on settlement changes or on airport utility contracts at the workshop; staff reported they would return with permit applications, funding options and, where required, settlement‑party approvals before construction would begin.

The presentation also covered utilities at Taos Regional Airport. Catron and town staff described parallel on‑site (EDA‑funded) and off‑site (state‑funded) utility projects: on‑site water and wastewater (septic collection and leach field), a planned interconnect to El Prado Water & Sanitation District for potable supply, and a temporary above‑ground storage tank solution to supply the new terminal and meet sprinkler/fireflow needs while the permanent interconnect is completed. Staff said the on‑site bid opening was delayed to allow better contractor responses and that the town was designing a temporary system that could be repurposed for other uses if needed.

Council members asked for follow‑up information on permit timing, the town’s water balance and a written accounting of trust water rights and potential lease opportunities. Catron and town legal staff reiterated that transfers or repurposing of trustee water rights are legally possible but would be lengthy, costly and likely to attract settlement‑party protests under the Abeyta framework.

Looking ahead, staff recommended applying to the state Water Trust Board for distribution‑system construction timed to when the Clower well and looped transmission line are ready to build, and continuing negotiations to resolve the Howell well replacement/rehabilitation question as part of any Baton/Bedford replacement application.