Frontera NorteSur February 2001

El Paso, TX depends upon three primary sources of water: the Hueco aquifer, the Mesilla aquifer and the Rio Grande. In the past, the city relied more upon the Hueco aquifer but this source of water is starting to give out and to use it in the future its "impaired water" will have to be passed through a relatively costly desalinization process. Previously, 60% of the city's water had come from the Hueco which is also drawn upon by Ciudad Juárez. The water utility, known locally as the Public Service Board (PSB), now uses this aquifer for only 38% of its water needs.

The Mesilla aquifer is exploited by the PSB from wells near Canutillo, TX. Historically the aquifer has provided between 12 and 17% of the city's water and it supplies the west side of El Paso with water during winter months when there is no water in the Rio Grande.

The third source of El Paso's drinking water is treated water from the Rio Grande which is currently providing 45% of the city's needs. This number should approach 50% when the city completes the expansion of its Jonathan Rogers Treatment Plant on the east side of El Paso.

Another, currently unused, source of water for the city is its West Texas water ranches. These are ranches that the city bought some years ago so as to gain access to the water beneath the land. Water from these facilities would have to be piped to the city at considerable expense. Of course, the financial viability of the project will increase as the price of water increases for the Public Service Board.

Disputes between the Public Service Board and the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1

Over the course of the past century the PSB has received much of its river water from the local irrigation district, the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 (EPCWID). Agreements between the two groups, signed in 1941, 1962 and 1992, formalize much of the relationship between the two organizations. Until recently the going price of water between the two groups has been $15 per acre foot. However, during recent negotiations to obtain an additional 15,000 acre feet of water from the irrigation district, the EPCWID has been asking for higher prices--much higher prices.

An El Paso Times article from September 3, 2000 stated that the EPCWID wanted $193 per acre foot, which would increase to $260 over the next ten years. While the price increase does seem steep the impact on residential users is less dramatic: the first figure would raise the average residential water bill by $49 a year, the second figure would increase it by $66, according to a September 5, 2000 El Paso Times article. This represents a rate increase of less than $6 per month to consumers. And El Paso residents already pay average or slightly below average rates for water users in large, southwest cities.

About the time negotiations between the PSB and the EPCWID came to a standstill both groups ended up going to court. According to the January 26, 2001 El Paso Times the PSB took matters into the legal arena because it believed that the EPCWID was not honoring water provision agreements signed between the two organizations in 1941, 1962 and 1992.

Lisa Power, general counsel to the EPCWID, explained the case by saying that the irrigation district had been over-supplying the PSB with water for years and that the US Bureau of Reclamation had told the EPCWID to only send the previously agreed upon lower levels of water. The PSB went to court to get a temporary restraining order to stop the decreased flow.

Near the same time the PSB was taking the EPCWID to court the irrigation district took legal action against the water utility contending that the PSB's shallowest wells in Canutillo, TX were taking water from the Rio Grande. Power explained that the EPCWID contended that the Canutillo wells were shallow and were therefore taking water from the Rio Grande (irrigation district water) and not reaching into the Mesilla aquifer.

Resolution

For now however all three issues--water price, water supply and the Canutillo wells--seem to be resolved or are at least on the road to resolution. A January 30, 2001 court order from US District Judge Harry L. Hudspeth states that an agreement has been reached between the EPCWID and the PSB and can be put into effect pending US approval and the completion of an environmental study. Power said that if everything goes as planned the study should be done and the contract between all parties will be signed in the spring of 2001.

Power explained some details of the agreement which will give the PSB 28,116 acre feet of water in years when the EPCWID has an available surplus. 15,000 acre feet of water, upon which the expansion of the PSB's east-side Jonathan Rogers water treatment facility is based, will be sold to the water utility at a cost of $193 per acre foot going up to $260 per acre foot over a ten-year period. Another 4,000 acre feet of surplus EPCWID water will be sold to the PSB at the price of $15 per acre foot. This water is for 1,000 acres of PSB land much like the 2,000 acres of PSB land that currently gets 8,000 acre feet of water for El Paso based upon the 1941 agreement between the two organizations. The other water in the agreement will be obtained at various prices.

The PSB Canutillo wells issue has been resolved by grandfathering in some of the shallow wells. These PSB sources can take a maximum of 4,000 acre feet per year, according to Power. If the take exceeds that amount the extra water is to be considered Rio Grande Project water and the EPCWID will be paid at the rate of $193 an acre foot and the US government will receive $5 per acre foot or 5% of the price, which ever is greater.

Carol Parker, PSB public information officer, said about the PSB that, "Everyone is pleased that an agreement has been reached." Particularly important to the PSB is the part of the agreement which gives the organization right of first refusal on surplus EPCWID irrigation water, Parker said. The PSB is also pleased that its two grandfathered, shallow Canutillo wells can take 4,000 acre feet of water per year. Deeper wells in the area can pump water from the Mesilla aquifer also up to a combined total of 15,000 acre feet per year for all wells, deep and shallow, combined. New wells must have a depth of at least 120 feet.

Parker also added that the agreement states that in 2001 the PSB can purchase up to 19,000 acre feet of water and that from 2002 through 2040 the PSB can buy up to 29,116 acre feet per year, with the amount available for purchase to be determined by the EPCWID.

Sources: El Paso Times. Articles by David Crowder.

The El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board website at www.epwu.org