Monsoon offers promising start for New Mexico farmers

Jul. 11—After fretting for months about whether a much-needed monsoon would arrive, growers and water managers are exhaling a collective sigh of relief.

Now they're looking skyward for their next wish: that the rains keep coming.

Ever the realists, those who make their living eyeing water flows or tilling the earth say the unusually early and heavy rains are a promising start but there's still a long summer growing season ahead.

They know in the midst of a two-decade megadrought, relief can be short-lived.

"It gave us a break; we were just running out of water," said Glen Duggins, who owns a 400-acre farm in Lemitar, a village near Socorro. "We've got a long ways to go. We don't know the future."

The middle Rio Grande Valley is a significant part of the state's $3 billion agricultural industry, and last year provides a stark illustration of how quickly nature can turn against growers.

After some decent summer rains last year, the weather dried up and depleted river flows, compelling the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District to end the irrigation season a month early on Oct. 1.

Duggins, who sits on the irrigation district's board, was one of two members to vote against the early shutdown. Two difficult, dry years in a row have made him more guarded.

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows the rains have eased the dry conditions of a couple months ago. But much of the state, including the middle valley, is still mired in extreme or exceptional drought.

Guarded optimism This year, Duggins said he is growing only chile and alfalfa, forgoing vegetable crops such as corn, tomatoes, green beans and black-eyed peas. He's cutting back his crop mix in response to a potential river water shortage and a lack of available field workers, he said.

He can tap groundwater as a backup source, but running the wells is much more expensive — costing him an additional $500 a day, he said.

Water managers also have a wait-and-see attitude but say they're grateful for the benefits the monsoon has delivered so far.

The rainstorms have filled the Rio Grande's dry stretches formed during an arid winter and spring brought on by La Niña, a Pacific Ocean weather pattern that pushes precipitation north, causing drier-than-normal conditions in the Southwest.

This La Niña — the second in a row — dissipated in late spring, clearing the way for atmospheric conditions to funnel heavy moisture to New Mexico in the form of rainstorms that replenished the river.

"What a wonderful start it is," said Rolf Schmidt-Petersen, Interstate Stream Commission director, referring to the monsoon. "The river is back to being continuous. Overall, very beneficial to the landscape."

The amount of stormwater flowing into rivers is a sign the heavy rains — at least for now — have dampened the dry soil that previously absorbed much of the runoff from snowpacks and rain, he said.

Extended forecasts call for above-average rainfall over the next 14 days, which is encouraging, but the robust precipitation must keep going into September, Schmidt-Peterson said.

An irrigation water manager agreed, saying the good early jump has made him cautiously optimistic.

"This is good, but it will turn back the other way if the rain doesn't continue in some sort of semi-regular basis," said Jason Casuga, CEO and chief engineer for the conservancy district.

The rain doused crops, enabling farmers to draw less water from the river to irrigate, Casuga said. But if the rains stop for a week or two, the river will quickly drop to a lower level, he said.

Federal aid falls short

Casuga said the district has consumed most of the federal water it expects to receive this summer to augment irrigation, so there's nothing extra to help carry it through.

He was referring to the San Juan-Chama water the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation allocates every year to regional users, including irrigators, plus Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Native pueblos.

This water originates in the San Juan River basin and would flow into the Colorado River but is diverted to the Rio Grande through a complex system of dams and tunnels called the San Juan-Chama Project.

This water is supplemental for the conservancy district, which mainly relies on the Rio Grande's natural or "native" water.

The district has received 9,342 acre-feet or roughly 3 billion gallons, according to Bureau data. An acre-foot is enough to supply two or three households for a year.

Casuga said he would like the district to receive more San Juan-Chama water as a cushion but will take what he can get.

Users are receiving roughly 60 percent of their full allocation due to depleted river flows. Researchers say human-driven climate change is causing warmer, drier weather and increased evaporation, compounding the Southwest's megadrought.

The district also must wrestle with other ongoing challenges.

Reservoirs throughout the state have reached critically low levels after two decades of drought, so there is no reserve to tap in a shortage.

The district also has no place to store native water for backup — due to El Vado reservoir being closed during the dam's renovation — and must funnel water downstream to pay off a sizable debt to Texas and help New Mexico meet its obligations under a multi-state water-sharing agreement known as the Rio Grande Compact.

New Mexico started the year owing Texas 127,000 acre-feet of water — about 41 billion gallons.

Ideally, the rain will keep falling in steady, moderate doses and not in the heavy downpours that pelted the Middle Rio Grande Valley in the past week, Duggins said.

"We started pumping water out," he said. "We had way more than we needed. It filled our fields three times."

Excessive rain can cause "root rot" in crops, he said, which doesn't show up for several weeks. He hopes they drained the crops quickly enough to prevent this blight, he said.

Duggins said this year he fallowed 35 acres through a program that paid him $425 for every acre he didn't irrigate.

This year, 190 irrigators fallowed about 2,554 acres — a significant increase from last year's 44 irrigators fallowing 720 acres, said Casey Ish, the conservancy district's water resource specialist.

The water that is saved will be used to boost river levels to protect endangered species such as the silvery minnow, Ish said.

The federal government paid $300 per acre, and the district chipped in $125 for this program, whose sole aim is aiding endangered species, Ish said. Next year, the $15 million the Legislature approved for fallowing will be used to increase the water sent downstream to Elephant Butte Reservoir, where Texas draws its water under the agreement.

Although farmers have always relied on rain, they have found themselves depending on a monsoon more often in recent years to avert a looming crisis. Climate research indicates the situation is likely to recur as the Southwest grows more arid, prolonging droughts and increasing their severity.

Schmidt-Petersen said at least 80 percent of the rivers' water originates in the high mountains — snowpack and alpine watersheds — and the rest comes from the summer monsoons.

Those sources are producing less water while the runoff soaks into the drought-parched landscape and evaporates more, compounding issues for the state's already variable but mostly dry climate, Schmidt-Petersen said.

Farmers will be among the main users affected, he added.

"That's a pretty significant hit," he said.