By KRWG News
Las Cruces – The New Mexico Supreme Court will hear an appeal by Moongate Water Company over a long-standing dispute over exclusive service area with the City of Las Cruces.
In August of 2010, the Las Cruces City Council approved action that would allow for the condemnation of Moongate Water Company on the City's East Mesa. The action is a proactive effort to extend the life of the area's Jornada Basin, one of two underground water sources. The basin is a large, confined aquifer with minimal recharge. The other underground water source, the Mesilla Basin, is an aquifer that is recharged by the Rio Grande and therefore does not have the same limitations as the Jornada Basin.
According to water level measurement data compiled by Las Cruces Utilities and the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, the aquifer level in the Jornada Basin is generally dropping at a rate of four to five feet annually in some areas. Moongate Water Company's continued cumulative pumping of the Jornada Basin, coupled with large water rights and extensive service territory claims within the city limits, will aggravate the future depletion of the aquifer. Consequently, a long term reliable source of water to its customers may be negatively impacted.
In August 2011, the New Mexico Court of Appeals reversed a state district court decision and held that Moongate Water Company did not have an exclusive service area against the City. Moongate then petitioned the New Mexico Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals' decision. The Supreme Court granted Moongate's petition and will now hear the appeal.
The City prevailed with the Court of Appeals and continues to maintain that it has the right to compete with Moongate within the City limits. In the past, if a developer selected City water utility over Moongate, the City has provided water service. Moongate has sued the City multiple times over this issue of exclusive service area within the city limits. A decision by the NM Supreme Court, which is not expected for at least one year, should finally resolve this service area dispute between the two water providers.