Current Events in Water

Here are a couple of articles from the Santa Fe New Mexican regarding water in our state. Feel free to leave comments!

New rule under fire from N.M. Cattle Growers Association
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/outstanding-waters-New-rule-under-fire-from-cattle-growers

Incoming state engineer will face a changing role
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/localnews/Incoming-state-engineer-will-face-a-changing-role

AWP and Water for People

There will be a joint meeting of Water for People and Association of Water Professionals on Wednesday, January 19, 2010. The meeting will begin at 6 pm at O'neill's on Central. Anyone interested is welcome to come.

Bruce Thomson, WRP Director, receives New Mexico Outstanding Earth Sciences Achievement Award

On February 4, 2010, Dr. Bruce Thomson, Director of the UNM Water Resources Program, was presented with the 2010 New Mexico Earth Sciences Achievement Award for outstanding contributions advancing the role of earth science in the areas of applied science in education in New Mexico.

Professor Thomson is also a Regents' Professor in the UNM Department of Civil Engineering. He has been on the UNM faculty since 1978. His research is focused on the chemistry and treatment of inorganic contaminants in ground water and wastewater reuse.

Congratulations Bruce!

Technical Resources on Stream Corridor Restoration

The Natural Resources Conservation Service Stream Corridor Team Workgroup has put together a collection of on-line resources on stream restoration. The site contains a wealth of information on this topic, including NRCS policy and guidance documents, useful links, publications, photographs and drawings of various practices and treatments, workshop information, and spreadsheet tools.

Check it out at: http://www.ndcsmc.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/Stream/

Climate change will cost New Mexico, especially if we don't reduce emissions

Our own Janie Chermak and Kristine Grimsrud, Professor and Assistant Professor, respectively, at the UNM Department of Economics, and Bob Doppelt, Director of Resource Innovations and the Climate Leadership Initiative at the Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, published an Op-Ed in Sunday's Albuquerque Journal titled Climate Change Will Cost, No Matter What.

The article summarizes conclusions from a new study that estimated the costs of climate change to New Mexico.

If no action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is taken, the minimum annual cost to each New Mexico household is estimated to be $3,430 by 2020, $5,410 by 2040, and as high as $12,000 by 2080. The costs of climate change include the wide-ranging economic impacts that would result from decreased surface water flows.

The take-home message is that the longer we wait to confront the problem of climate change, the more costly climate change becomes to New Mexicans.

The full article is highly recommended.