LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- New Mexico's already scarce water supplies are becoming scarcer, requiring new strategies for keeping taps flowing, officials said at a conference here yesterday.

At the conference, "Hard Choices: Adapting Policy and Management to Water Scarcity," state and federal water managers, scientists, policymakers and academics all drove home the same message: The state is facing water shortages, and everyone -- from users to managers to elected officials -- must do their part to address it.

"I believe we are at a crossroads, where we will have to make hard choices," said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who co-hosted the conference with New Mexico State University President Barbara Couture. "The hardest choice is between conflict and cooperation. In New Mexico, we cannot afford to be cynical about the value of water, and so we must work together -- citizens, advocates, local, state and federal officials -- to collaborate on shared solutions."

Drought and climate change are shrinking supplies, while at the same time, demand is increasing, the senator added.

But while almost everyone at the conference agreed that tough decisions will have to be made about how to stretch limited supplies, few agreed on what should be done.

"There's a saying in New Mexico: Mi casa es su casa, but mi agua es mi agua," said Lee Peters of Peters Law Firm in Las Cruces, acknowledging the state's long history of water conflicts.

An obvious sector to target to make the most of existing supplies would be agriculture, which accounts for 70 percent of water use in New Mexico. Some panelists called for more water transfers from farms to cities or industry -- perhaps under a streamlined approval process -- while others worried about the effects of such transfers on the agricultural industry.

"We can fix the Middle Rio Grande water problem by cutting agriculture in half," said Howard Passell of Sandia National Laboratories' Earth Systems Analysis Department. "The problem, of course, is that we lose a lot of ag."

Countered John D'Antonio, who was state engineer under former Gov. Bill Richardson (D): "We have to maintain our agricultural community. Only a small part can be transferred out."

Passell suggested that instead of scaling back agriculture, farmers could switch to less water-intensive crops and use drip irrigation systems. Jordan, in the Middle East, has benefited from that approach, he added.

"We need to be looking out of the box for a new set of solutions," Passell said.

Paula Garcia of the New Mexico Acequia Association, which represents small farmers and residents who use a traditional form of irrigation involving community-managed ditches, said water transfers could devastate acequias and the communities that depend on them.

"Water markets and transfers are viewed as a tool, but from an acequia perspective, they're seen as a threat, and could lead to our extinction," she said. "It's part of our way of life, but also important for food security. So our water policy has to address this conundrum."

Infrastructure debate

Water experts and users also disagreed on whether more infrastructure should be part of the solution to water woes.

While some water experts pushed for conservation and riparian restoration, others said new water projects may be essential in meeting future demand.

Ground zero for that debate today is the Gila River in southwestern New Mexico, a tributary of the Colorado River. The state has untapped water rights to the river under the Colorado River compact, but river advocates oppose damming or otherwise diverting the river's water.

"In some instances, the solutions we've identified have a high ecological cost," said University of New Mexico water law professor Denise Fort, who added that New Mexico doesn't need the Gila's water. "New Mexico in the future should manage water demand rather than investing in large-scale water projects."

D'Antonio took issue with Fort's assertion that Gila water wasn't needed.

"We certainly need that water," D'Antonio said, adding that the state's supplies are almost fully appropriated. "We need more water."

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor, who grew up in Las Cruces and is well versed in New Mexico water issues, said the state needs to have a better understanding of just how much water it has. It would be particularly useful to have more knowledge about the connection between surface water and groundwater, especially in the lower Rio Grande Basin, he added.

"If we are successful, we'll be better able to meet our challenges in the future," he said.

Getting a better grasp of hydrology could also help address a major dispute in the lower Rio Grande Basin that recently erupted in court, he added. Reclamation is embroiled in two lawsuits that involve Dona Ana County farmers; El Paso, Texas, farmers; and the state of New Mexico. The state argues that Reclamation is allowing too much Rio Grande water to flow to Texas.

"I think the federal government has been mischaracterized," he said. "We are not claiming all of the groundwater in southern New Mexico with the idea that we'll export it to Texas."

Colorado's example

Some experts suggested New Mexico could learn from Colorado, where there's an even greater gap between supply and demand, due in part to the state's booming population in Denver, Colorado Springs and other Front Range cities.

There, staffers keep an eye on hundreds of monitoring stations throughout the state on a daily basis, enabling managers to better keep track of water resources.

"We have the ability on a day-to-day basis to know where the water is in the system, and be able to serve those water rights," said Steve Vandiver, general manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District in southern Colorado.

No matter what solutions are vetted in the future, all the various interests are going to have to work together, the panelists agreed.

"We can't get anywhere unless we collaborate," D'Antonio said.