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SB 665: WATER WELLS, LEASES, HEARINGS & ABANDONMENT

An Act Relating To Water; Allowing The Use Of A Leased Water Right During The Pendency Of The Hearing Process For A Limited Period And Limited Amount Of Water; Allowing The Drilling Of Supplemental Or Replacement Wells For The Amount Of Water Originally Permitted To Or Declared By The Water Right Owner Regardless Of The Amount Of Historic Beneficial Use Of The Water; Requiring The Filing Of Certain Evidence By Protestants To Determine Standing In Administrative Hearings On Water Rights Issues; Providing That The Non-use Of Water Does Not Automatically Result In The Loss Of Water Rights In Certain Instances.

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MILD SB 665
WATER WELLS, LEASES, HEARINGS & ABANDONMENT

Legislative URL:
SB 665 on nmlegis.gov
Emergency Clause:
No
Germane:
N/A
Location:
SCONC
Action:
[10] SCONC/SJC-SCONC API.
Issue(s):

Related Legislators

Bill Sponsor:

Related Documents

Downloads:
Introduced
Summary

This bill adds water and sanitation districts as entities that may acquire and hold unused water rights for up to 40 years to plan for the reasonable development and use of water resources. And, it provides that such rights shall not be automatically lost after 40 years, except by statutory forfeiture or judicial proceedings to prove abandonment.

The bill also provides that, while a hearing is pending for approval of a proposed use of leased water, the State Engineer may approve a lessee’s use of water for leases of less than three years for less than 200 acre-feet per year.

And, the bill specifies the evidence that must be presented by a person or entity protesting an application for water rights based on impairment of the protestant’s water right or a claim that granting the application will be contrary to the conservation of water or detrimental to the public welfare. The bill requires that that protestant must be “substantially and specifically affected” by the granting of the application in order to have standing to protest the application. An applicant may seek to recover attorney fees and costs for a frivolous protest.

Finally, with regard to applications for the drilling of certain replacement and supplemental wells, the bill provides that the amount of water available for appropriation is the greater of the amount of water put to full beneficial use by the water right’s owner or the amount of the owner’s permitted or declared water right, provided that at least some portion of the owner’s permitted or declared water right has previously been put to beneficial use.

A possible benefit of this bill might be that it clarifies certain water rights requirements and procedures to the benefit of water rights owners and applicants. A potential concern may be that the bill makes it more difficult for individuals or entities to protest water rights applications.