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Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy reports expanded groundwater‑banking area, easements and funding
Summary
Dr. LaDonna Clayton told the Water Policy Advisory Committee the conservancy has banked 26,351 acres northwest of Cannon Air Force Base, retired 56 irrigation wells, and gathered roughly $22 million in funding to date, with federal REPI and foundation grants supporting conservation easements and short‑term water‑right leases.
Dr. LaDonna Clayton, executive director of the Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy, told the Water Policy Advisory Committee that the conservancy has expanded its groundwater‑banking footprint to 26,351 acres northwest of Cannon Air Force Base and is pursuing both short‑term water‑right leases and perpetual conservation easements to remove irrigation pumping from the Ogallala Aquifer.
The update said the project now includes 26 voluntary landowners, nine active three‑year water‑right lease agreements and three conservation easements in process. Clayton said the effort has retired 56 irrigation wells and that those retirements ‘‘saved almost 12,000,000,000 gallons of water.’’ She also described total current project funding as about $22 million and said REPI (Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration) funding awarded to date related to the Canon (Cannon) AFB project is $10,945,200; she noted an award of $130,000 from the Thornburg Foundation completed the most recent fundraising step.
Why it matters: Clayton said the work directly relates to military readiness because water security is an ‘‘encroachment’’ threat to Cannon Air Force Base. She warned that, without action, current groundwater use concentrated on irrigation could lead to severe depletion; citing recent studies, she said the aquifer ‘‘could be functionally depleted as early as 2028’’ if current trends continued.
Clayton traced the project’s origins to the City of Clovis Master Water Assurance Plan (2017). The conservancy incorporated in 2021, opened in October 2021, and began enrolling acres for banking in 2022. Short‑term tools are the three‑year lease agreements designed to cease pumping quickly and retire irrigation wells; the long‑term tool is perpetual conservation easements that allow limited domestic and livestock use while protecting most groundwater in perpetuity. She said 80% of groundwater in easements will be retired, with 20% retained for limited on‑site uses and the option for owners to sell supplemental groundwater to EPCOR.
Clayton cited scientific monitoring and studies from New Mexico Tech and the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. She said baseline and follow‑up well measurements show localized improvements in parts of the paleo channel where easements and well retirements have been concentrated; she also said some wells closer to the base remain in decline but at lower rates than before the project interventions.
Committee members asked about geographic expansion. Clayton said the Sentinel Landscape designation and REPI mechanisms are being explored to expand beyond the initial 26,351 acres across the broader Eastern New Mexico Sentinel Landscape, including areas near Portales and Melrose. She said enrollment continues and that additional acres (about 7,700 acres) are anticipated within the next year.
No formal action was taken by the committee on this update; the presentation was informational. Clayton offered to provide the published well‑measurement study and said MIT Lincoln Laboratory and other partners provided additional resilience analysis that will be available to the Department of Defense.
Ending: Committee members thanked Clayton and noted the project’s national recognition and partnership with Cannon Air Force Base; Clayton said continued monitoring and funding remain priorities.
