The New Mexico State Senate has passed a bill to give the state more control over its water and any possible attempts to pollute it .
According to Source NM , the legislative arm passed a bill allowing the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) to take over pollution permitting currently done by the federal government.
It also amends current state water laws to help protect intermittent streams, which are waterways that only flow during certain times of the year.
The bill would also help strengthen laws against groundwater pollution that isn’t serious enough to trigger federal protections.
The bill passed along party lines, 25-16.
Essentially, the new bill would allow New Mexico to take control of policing the pollution in its own waters rather than relying on the federal government to do so. This is particularly important for the state because many of its waterways are intermittent, and the U.S. Supreme Court removed regulations on polluting intermittent streams in 2023.
“This is status quo, it’s been done for the past 50 years, there wasn’t a record of extreme enforcement,” Jonas Armstrong, the Water Protection director for NMED said, per Source NM. “What we’re trying to do here is protect water in New Mexico from potential pollution.”
This measure is important in a state like New Mexico, which is particularly arid to begin with and becoming more and more so, according to Mainstream New Mexico . This is because of a process known as aridification, in which regions become drier and drier as our planet heats up .
Therefore, water resources are particularly precious for New Mexico, and as the federal government continues to pull back on national regulations, the state wants to take steps to protect what they have. The bill now needs to pass the New Mexico House of Representatives.
“We’re confident and hopeful that we will have plenty of time to make our way through,” Armstrong added.