Portales to establish water plan, committee soon

The city of Portales will be looking into introducing a new water efficiency plan (WEP) and establishing a water advisory committee by February. That’s what area residents heard Thursday at a community meeting at the Memorial Building.

City Manager Sarah Austin said the plan is being developed to provide the city with a framework for coordinating a response to water supply/production emergencies, including droughts and infrastructure or equipment failures.

“The purpose of the WEP is to establish an effective and systematic approach to identifying and dealing with unforeseen circumstances arising from such emergencies,” Austin said.

Austin said she couldn’t go into further detail until the plan has been introduced in the next City Council meeting on Tuesday.

Austin led the town hall meeting, along with other city employees, council members and residents. Austin said the goal was to educate the public on the cause and effect of the stage 3 water emergency and how it can be worked on as a community.

“This is a situation to manage, not a problem to solve,” Austin said.

She said the water emergency declaration will remain in place until water production increases. Austin said if the city uses too much water, it might permanently damage the water system.

“Our focus is to bring in more water, whether that means buying more properties and drilling more wells,” Austin said.

In the meeting, Austin said Portales has had a history of droughts and the Ogallala aquifer has been rapidly declining since the 1960s.

“Some percentage of the city has experienced moderate to exceptional drought nearly every year since the 1960s. The drought conditions’ impact continues to be of grave concern to every city of Portales citizen,” Austin said.

The large underground reservoir stretches from Wyoming to the Dakotas to New Mexico. Austin said it serves as the main water source for what’s known as the breadbasket of America, an area that contributes at least a fifth of the total annual agricultural harvest in the U.S.

Austin said the water restrictions were put in place because the city was having difficulty staying in compliance with standards for safe drinking water established by government agencies. Restrictions have prevented residents from watering lawns, washing cars and filling pools, what Austin termed “non-essential water needs.”

Throughout the meeting, residents voiced their concerns and offered ideas that included witching and building wells over underground water channels.

Austin said she was enthusiastic with the ideas that were shared in the meeting, but the city is required to go through the State Engineer’s Office for approval on most water plans.