Op-Ed
This summer, we’ve been blessed with a healthy monsoon season, providing much-needed relief from our recent water shortages. Seeing this moisture return reminds us of the preciousness of water, and how important it is for communities like Acoma Pueblo whose past, present and future all depend on healthy water supplies.
As a farmer, I have experienced the hardships that come with water shortages, and I am worried about the long-term future of our shared resource.
This legislative session, I’m hoping our state leaders will do everything they can to come up with solutions to meet our water crisis.
As they do, I hope they will pay close attention to the needs of our communities. Pueblo people have been some of the oldest stewards of water and also among the first to express concern over water issues that are affecting all New Mexicans.
Partnership with the state is needed now more than ever. We have generations of wisdom in many of our communities. Our ancestors understood the importance of water conservation long before the modern term was invented. They knew how to recycle water, take advantage of areas where moisture was plentiful, and capture rainwater from the summer rains. The practical, sciencebased efforts we incorporate into our farming methods are still relevant to this day.
What we need is for decision makers to listen to that wisdom. To come together and say, how can we help conserve, manage and protect what limited water resources we have? The 50Year Water Action Plan tells us we must prepare for a future with 25 percent less water than we have now. We should heed that warning sooner rather than later. The Tribal Water Plan, which many tribal and pueblo people contributed to, offers state and federal officials a blueprint. Though each community’s needs are different, we have one thing in common: we all need serious, deliberate action on water issues now, because water can’t wait any longer.
First and foremost, we need infrastructure projects funded and completed with greater speed and less bureaucracy. While tribal and pueblo water issues are usually dealt with at the federal level, water rights settlements and Congressional approval can take decades. In the meantime, what role can the state play to help our water managers now? With a large state budget surplus, there should be ample opportunity to come up with more solutions that include tribal and pueblo communities.
As our elected officials do the hard legislative work, I invite them to come see the crisis not from behind the desk, but to spend time on the land. To touch feet to earth, to see what our people are talking about. To hear what it’s like for a farmer or rancher to have to sell their cattle, or not be able to plant their fields and grow enough produce to feed their family. Maybe then, they will understand the urgency we are facing, and will start to make water issues more of a priority.
When water issues are ignored, it has a ripple effect on our communities, causing additional problems with basic healthcare, housing and infrastructure that depend on healthy water supplies. All these issues are intertwined. And unlike other people, we cannot simply move away. We are rooted here. Acoma is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in North America, and we are determined to ensure it lasts for another millennia. Let’s honor this land and the people who live here by taking action now. Water can’t wait.