Opinion: It's not a lake, it's a reservoir

Because I am the Chairman of the ENMWUA, the entity that is constructing the Ute Pipeline, you may think you know exactly where I’m going here. But don’t tune out just yet. I want to share my heart with you. Concern for New Mexico’s water security is something that comes naturally to me. With this letter, I hope to convey that there’s something else that comes naturally to me as well. And that’s empathy with those that love and enjoy their beloved body of water and struggle with why someone would mess with it.

My family and I enjoy our frequent visits to Ute Reservoir each summer. Ute is an eastern NM treasure, and we love it there! But long before I came to love and enjoy Ute, there was another NM treasure that stole my heart.

When I was very young, I fell in love with Conchas Lake (I no longer call it “lake”). My grandad worked for the Army Corp of Engineers and maintained the dam at Conchas. His title was Dam Repairman. Now, I should mention that he had quite a sense of humor. And it’s not out of the question that he could’ve taught me to say “my grandpa is a dam repairman” just to get a kick out of my grandmother’s reaction. But I think that actually may have been his title. And if it wasn’t, I don’t want to know otherwise. In any case, my earliest memories of Conchas include the good times I had there with my grandad. He had punched cattle in the Conchas area before there was a dam and he knew his way around. He was a WWII Veteran that enjoyed waterskiing and croppie fishing. By the time he was showing me around Conchas in the late 70s and early 80s, he had spent 20 years at the dam. He loved that place and I guess it rubbed off on me.

Growing up, I was blessed to make many memories at Conchas. Camping at Spring Canyon, fishing from the bank, jumping from the cliffs and waterskiing for hours on end. My parents and I lived on a nearby ranch, and this meant driving by Conchas and the beloved body of water frequently. My route to school at Conchas Dam Elementary took me right by my favorite place too. As we would make our way down the road below the emergency spillway, I would stretch my neck and wish I could see the water. Moments later we would wind through the park area at the Corp. of Engineers, and I wouldn’t have to wish any longer. As the bus putted along the road which went out onto the dike and to the dam, I could see “my lake” stretched out before me. After crossing the dam and continuing along the road atop the earthen east barrier which bends and heads south, I would have a broad view of the water looking west toward Rattlesnake Island. For a ranch kid, it may as well have been a great sea. These glimpses of the Conchas would fuel my school day daydreams about waterskiing. Just before the road ascends from the dike, right above the Arch Hurley Conservancy headworks structure, I would always look to the east to see if there was any water in the canal. No water in the canal meant “my lake” was safe! Inevitably, though, there would be those times when I would see water in the canal because Arch Hurley Conservancy District was exercising its right to deliver Conchas surface water to its members. “Why would they let water out of the lake?” I would wonder! “Why would they let water out of MY lake?” As I came of age, I gained the understanding that Conchas is not a Lake, it’s a reservoir. And it serves to protect water security for New Mexicans. While it provides great recreational opportunities, Conchas has a primary purpose: flood control and providing surface water to the Arch Hurley Conservancy District and its 41 thousand acres of irrigable farmland around Tucumcari. We would all prefer to see it full to the point of topping the spillway every year, but even when drought conditions persist and levels are so low that Arch Hurley District cannot take the allocations it would like, Conchas continues to offer its secondary benefits as a wonderful place for fishing and recreation. When runoff does make its way down the Canadian River, the reservoir performs very well in its primary purpose catching and storing that precious water to the benefit of New Mexicans.

Conchas Dam was constructed between 1935 and 1939 with the Arch Hurley Conservancy District being enacted by the NM Legislature in 1937. I am so thankful for the vision and courage of the leaders of that day to make the moves they did for the benefit of New Mexicans. Just 11 years after the Conchas Dam was completed, the Canadian River Compact was finalized giving birth to the idea that another reservoir would be necessary to protect water security for New Mexicans. The Canadian River Compact makes clear that New Mexico has full use of all the Canadian River waters above the Conchas Dam. And thankfully the Compact grants permission to the State of NM to store 200 thousand-acre feet of water below the Conchas Dam. With this agreement in place and eastern New Mexico’s water security in mind, state leaders and policymakers worked for years to secure funding to construct the Ute Dam. In the late 1950s, the enabling legislation was passed by the New Mexico Legislature and a state appropriation of $5 million was made. As a result, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) created the Ute Reservoir. Construction was completed in the Spring 1963.

New Mexico ISC owns and operates Ute Reservoir. Through a joint power’s agreement of the Ute Reservoir Water Commission (URWC), several New Mexico municipalities and counties pay for and hold reservations for allocations of water from Ute Reservoir. Currently, Quay County is the only Ute Reservoir Water Commission member that is taking water from Ute Reservoir. Quay County does so to water a golf course. Each of the URWC members has one plan or another regarding the water allocations they have reserved. As far as I know, none have as solid of plans as Clovis/CAFB, Portales, Texico and Elida. The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority was enacted by the NM Legislature in 2010 and is comprised of the afore-mentioned communities. Since receiving federal authorization in 2009, ENMWUA has been tasked with constructing the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System also known as the Ute Pipeline. This effort has not come easy, with years of cost to each of our member communities in what we consider an investment toward building our future. The Ute Pipeline is how the ENMWUA members will receive the Ute Reservoir water they have each reserved and is allocated to them. The pipeline is a critically necessary part of addressing drinking water supply issues in Clovis/CAFB, Portales, Texico and Elida. Once the pipeline is completed, it will deliver a maximum of 16,415-acre feet of water annually from Ute to the ENMWUA member communities. For an idea of how much water that is and what it could mean in terms of impact to the reservoir levels, the reservoir is currently holding 171,000-acre feet water and the water surface elevation level is 3783.54 which means the water level is approximately five and a half feet below the top of the dam’s spillway (8/20/23 – USGS data).

If you are concerned about why someone may take water from your Ute, I empathize with you. However, I think we can all agree that water security for eastern NM has a greater value than our desire for a few more feet of recreational water. Even so, I believe our beloved Ute Reservoir will both fulfill its primary purpose, and we will still have the secondary benefit of recreation.

As a New Mexican, I am grateful to the leaders of the past for making courageous moves to plan for our region’s water security by creating Ute Reservoir. And I am grateful to our Federal, State, and local partners today who through their steadfast support have made completing the Ute Pipeline by 2029 possible.

It’s not a lake. It’s a reservoir. And water security in New Mexico is better for it.

Mike Morris is mayor of Clovis and chairman of the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority. Contact him:

[email protected]