Drought order opens door to federal aid

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - On Tuesday, Gov. Susana Martinez officially declared New Mexico in a drought.

It's a move to get federal help.

Cities, counties and even farmers can apply for government assistance if they are hurt by the drought. Now, they'll also have the backing from the state.

The drought stretches from the West Coast to West Texas, and New Mexico's right in the middle of it. Ninety percent of the state was in a severe drought last year, and this year doesn't look much better.

The last time it was this dry was the 1950s.

"If they're having problems, economic or otherwise, they can apply for assistance," said Tom Thorpe of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, which manages water for 11,000 farmers and other irrigators.

"Because our irrigators, our farmers, they're a business. That is their business, and if they lose business, they've got to try and gain some of it back."

Right now reservoirs that store water for irrigation are low.

"We have about a year and a half to two years of stored water left," Thorpe continued.  "If that runs out, then our farmers and our irrigators will have to operate off the natural flow of the Rio Grande. We'll have no other choice."

But they've been planning for this for years through conservation efforts and rationing. They will be fine as long as the Rio Grande keeps running.

Other water managers around the state haven't been as prepared. The governor says towns like Las Vegas might need federal money to pay to fix a leaky dam.

And the drought gets worse as you head south. Those communities could apply for money to drill for more water supplies.

Drilling, the state says, could cost anywhere from $100,000 to $400,000.

This declaration will also ask for the state's Drought Task Force to meet more often to discuss more long-term solutions. They will team up with the National Weather Service, climatologists and New Mexico State Forestry.

The state says the simplest solution is to use less water.

The State Engineer is hoping the monsoon season is big this year because the snow runoff started early and all the snow could be gone in June five or six weeks earlier than usual.

The latest rainstorms helped a little bit. Most of the state has seen more rain this year than last year at this time.