The Trump administration recently finalized the “Waters of the United States” rule. Under this new provision, at least 90% of New Mexico’s waterways lose federal protection under the Clean Water Act.
The Act was designed to restore heavily polluted watersheds.
Under the new rule, ephemeral waterways – like many of our arroyos, streams, and playas – lose protection. These waterways collect rainwater and snowmelt…recharging aquifers, while providing drinking water and irrigation water for agriculture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXpw_EZgPjo&feature=youtu.be
They also play a vital role in supporting native plants and animals.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and the New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney released the following statements regarding the changes:
“Trump’s new rule is an absolute disaster for the state’s water resources, no other natural resource in New Mexico has greater significance to our people than our water: environmentally, culturally, economically, recreationally. Stripping federal protections from our rivers and streams is an affront to all who call New Mexico home. My administration is committed to protecting New Mexico’s precious waters and will consider all legal options to prevent this rule from going into effect. This is far from over,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham.
NMED Secretary James Kenney said, “The EPA failed to consult with my Department after we submitted extensive comments on the draft rule despite their repeated assurances to engage, this federal administration’s self-proclaimed deregulatory agenda ignores sound science, states’ rights and most troubling, the EPA’s own mission to protect public health and the environment.”
As of right now, the future of New Mexico’s waterways remains unclear.
The state relies on the federal Environmental Protection Agency for funding and to manage its permit process for pollution control. The loss of Clean Water Act protections could mean less money from the EPA for programs ranging from watershed management to quality assurance and monitoring. According to the NMED, there are around 120 individual permits that monitor and control the number of pollutants entering New Mexico Waterways. Permit holders vary from significant mining operations to local municipalities. When the Clean Water Act changes go into effect, it’s unclear how these permits will be managed given that states had very little time to allocate funds and create their own permit management programs.
Dr. Sam Fernald, at the Water Resource Research Institute at New Mexico State University, says that more research needs to happen, “I think there is a lot of room to identify the impacts, the scope, and the different parameters. I think that there is one sort of set that has to do with the permits for point sources that I think that can be pretty clearly understood because there are designated spots. You can see if they go into a stream that’s covered or not. It’s more the bigger challenge to see how this affects the non-point source pollution and the management of landscapes and the quality of streams for all these different uses. Tourism has a lot of economic value, is it going to affect tourism? Livestock grazing there, the default water source a lot of times is the streams that can be perennial or intermittent. I think we need to identify the impact.”
It’s not just streams and rivers facing the loss of protection. New Mexico’s wetlands are also at risk. Kevin Bixby, executive director for the Southwest Environmental Center, has worked hard to help restore New Mexico’s wetland habitats.
“These kinds of habitats are really important to wildlife. They’re some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, so they support a great deal of plant and animal life,” Bixby said, “The protection under our federal clean water act is very important for preventing the pollution and the destruction of streams and rivers and wetlands. And you know, I know, in New Mexico , I don’t know all the details but, I know in New Mexico we have a lot of what are call playas, which are these small isolated wetlands, usually in depressions in flatter areas where when it rains, they fill up with water and even though they are not wet all year round and they’re not connected to a river, so they are not navigable, they’re still really important.”
It’s not just the role wetlands play in plant and animal life; they also impact people as well.
“They do a number of things that benefit people, for one thing, they filter out contaminants in water, so they clean the water up and they do that for free of course, as long as we protect wetlands. They also are natures flood control system. Because when a rivers flows are high the water rises, it spills out onto its banks and onto those wetlands. And those wetlands slow the water down and allow that water to seep into the ground and recharge our aquifers. Which is our source of drinking water. So, wetlands are important to people as well,” said Bixby.
According to the Association of state wetland managers, New Mexico’s wetlands cover about 482,000 acres. Most of those are in the eastern and northern areas of the state. Currently, New Mexico regulates wetlands through surface water quality management and certification under the Clean Water Act.
Even though New Mexico’s waterways face uncertainty, one thing is certain. Places like this will continue to provide a habitat for native fish and wildlife.