Corrales leaders outline plan to clear historic over‑diversions and file a 40‑year water plan

Corrales Village Council on Nov. 18 received a detailed briefing on steps the village is taking to resolve a multiyear audit of its water-rights permits and to secure its water portfolio for the next 40 years. Mike Hammond introduced the update and consultant John Stomp and staff member Britney took the council through audit findings, filings and a near‑term schedule.

The most immediate work involves paperwork and technical fixes to correct prior noncompliance, Britney told the council: change‑of‑ownership forms for two wells and one surface right have been filed and recorded, proof‑of‑beneficial‑use (PBU) reports have been submitted where missing, and the State Engineer’s district manager has agreed to perform site visits with village staff to complete final approvals by February or March. "We came to [the State Engineer] with the problems. They didn't have to come after us," Britney said, describing a cooperative enforcement approach that avoided more costly engineering filings.

Nut graf: The village plans to file a combined/co‑mingling permit that will pull separate, underused water rights into a single municipal portfolio and to submit a 40‑year water plan. That combination is intended both to cure historic over‑diversions and to give the village flexibility in operating multiple wells and fire‑suppression sources without triggering repeated enforcement actions.

Britney and Stomp detailed how the village proposes to retire most historical over‑diversions. The village holds a lease of up to 30 acre‑feet per year from a Bernalillo source for 2020–2030; unused allocations in that lease were proposed to be applied retroactively to balance earlier years, a step the district manager accepted pending final reads. Britney said that approach reduced the village’s outstanding over‑diversion obligation by roughly 28 acre‑feet; another 8.712 acre‑feet was covered by allowable year‑to‑year adjustments on some fire‑suppression wells, leaving roughly 33 acre‑feet to resolve after final meter reads. She said Bernalillo has agreed in principle to lease stored San Juan–Chama water for a one‑year co‑applicant filing to retire the remaining deficit and that the village expects to complete that payback by the end of 2026.

Councilors pressed staff on options such as leasing water to demonstrate proof of use and on whether the village could expand permitted purposes to support agricultural irrigation. John Stomp explained that PBUs and place‑of‑use restrictions limit some leasing arrangements: municipal permits typically cover municipal irrigation and fire suppression but not agricultural irrigation without an explicit permit amendment. "You can lease water rights that will help you, but you do have to worry about where those water rights are used," Stomp said.

The presentation also addressed valuation and long‑term acquisitions. Stomp said market values in 2025 for pre‑1907 rights in the Middle Rio Grande Valley are on the order of $21,000 per acre‑foot (consumptive use), and he estimated pre‑1956 groundwater rights at about 70% of that value (roughly $14,700 per acre‑foot) based on comparable market activity and limited comps. He cautioned that prices vary widely by basin and that the state engineer must still determine the validity and transferability of contracted pre‑1956 rights the village is pursuing.

The council was told the next formal filing will be the combined/co‑mingling permit; Britney said staff expected to file the application within weeks, with legal notice and a public comment period following. If approved, the permit would allow different municipal wells and fire‑suppression sources to draw from the combined portfolio within the village’s place of use, reducing the administrative risk of isolated over‑diversions.

The village still faces a longer‑term need for additional rights when the Bernalillo lease expires in 2030. Presenters estimated a minimum of roughly 50 acre‑feet is needed to maintain current service levels, and councilors discussed whether to prioritize less expensive pre‑1956 purchases or the more costly—but often more transferable—pre‑1907 rights.

The council did not take any formal vote on acquisition strategy at the meeting; staff said the filings, site visits and the payback plan remain the immediate priorities and that the 40‑year water plan will frame future purchasing choices.

Ending: Officials said they would return with filings and final meter readings and monitor state‑engineer review of contracted water purchases as the village moves to complete the cleanup and secure rights through the combined permit and 40‑year plan.