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Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya testified before the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power in support of the Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act (H.R. 3342) on Capitol Hill yesterday. “This settlement will create a regional water system that will alleviate water shortages and water quality problems in the Pojoaque basin,” said Commissioner Montoya, “It also achieves a fair and equitable resolution of competing claims to water in one of the most water-short areas of the west.” The Aamodt settlement resolves a lawsuit that has endured for forty-three years, one of the longest in American federal jurisprudence. It is the product of the efforts of many parties and reflects a desire by the people of the State of New Mexico, Indian, and non-Indian, to settle their differences through negotiation rather than litigation.

Representative Ben Ray Luján introduced H.R. 3342 and Senator Jeff Bingaman and Senator Tom Udall have introduced the companion bill, S.1105 in the Senate. The legislation authorizes $106.4 million in federal funds for a regional water system and an additional $52.5 million for other projects and trusts. State and local governments would contribute another $117 million under the settlement to plan, design, and construct a regional water system that will include a County Water Utility to protect household use of water and enable outdoor use. By incentivizing non-Pueblos to become customers of the County Water Utility, the settlement over time should also reduce ground water withdrawals in the Rio Pojoaque Basin, alleviating stress on the aquifer and restoring surface flows of the rivers in the Basin to levels at which the acequia culture, both Pueblo and non-Pueblo, can be permanently sustained.

Commissioner Montoya’s full statement is available at http://santafecounty.org/about_us/aamodt_settlement.php.