Public comment sought on Santa Fe's proposed water pipeline
Oct. 22—Plans to install a pipeline to discharge treated wastewater into the Rio Grande in hopes of boosting the Santa Fe area's federal water allocation has drawn mixed opinions, and the public will have a chance to express them in the next month.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is taking public comments on a proposed 17-mile pipeline dubbed the San Juan-Chama return flow project, named for the federal system of tunnels and reservoirs that channel water from the Colorado River basin to the Rio Grande, where it is then diverted to various users, including the city and county of Santa Fe.
By putting back some of the San Juan-Chama water pulled from the river — even as treated effluent — the local governments will receive return-flow credits that will allow it to divert more of the water.
It also will enable them to build a backup supply that will be vital in the coming years as a changing climate is predicted to strain water supplies throughout the region, especially if significant growth occurs, said Jesse Roach, the city's Water Division director.
"All the best available science suggests that [supply] will be lessening," Roach said. "And then we have uncertain demand as far as how much the community will grow. And if put those two things together, if we don't do anything, we predict potential shortages."
The City Council approved the pipeline two years ago, with an estimated cost of $20 million, as part of an effort to create a 40- to 80-year water plan for Santa Fe. It would connect a south-side wastewater treatment plant to the Buckman Direct Diversion, built a decade ago to offer an alternative to groundwater.
The Reclamation Bureau is doing an environmental review of the proposed pipeline partly because the agency awarded grant money to the project and also because it will stretch across city, state and federal lands, agency spokeswoman Mary Carlson said.
Creating a system to recycle the water is worthwhile, Carlson said.
"This is a strategy for them to be able to utilize their San Juan-Chama water fully," she said. "We would support efforts to do that in an environmentally sound manner."
But environmentalists and others have criticized the proposed return-flow project, saying it raises many questions yet to be addressed.
Among them are how well the system would filter out pharmaceuticals and other household toxins flushed down toilets, how it would be paid for and how the city's current water treatment system, which has had past problems, could be upgraded to this high of a level.
The project also would siphon away half the treated wastewater that's now piped into the Santa Fe River, reducing the water flow to wildlife habitat, farmers, ranchers, pueblos and other downstream users, a community advocate said.
"It's important we ensure there's sufficient water in the river to meet those needs of the traditional agricultural uses, and enough to maintain the health of the river," said Carl Dickens, co-chairman of the Santa Fe River Traditional Communities Collaborative.
Dickens said there's also a question of whether the aging sewer treatment plant, built in the 1960s, can handle the task of returning sufficiently clean water to the federal system.
Carlson said these are the kinds of issues the agency wants to hear about when it conducts public meetings.
"We want a full picture of what the concerns are," she said.
Aside from the Reclamation Bureau's reviews, Roach said, the project must receive permits through the National Environmental Policy Act and the Office of the State Engineer.
The city was able to get through the recent severe drought conditions without having to tap its well fields too much for groundwater, Roach said. But supplementing surface water supply will be vital in the future as river flows are expected to diminish, he said.
"It's a way for us to make that water resource go farther," he said.
