Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Despite recent rains, Conchas Lake saw only a meager rise in its water levels, according to the manager of the Arch Hurley Conservancy District during the board of directors meeting last week.
Arch Hurley manager Franklin McCasland said during his Oct. 11 report the lake’s elevation stood at 4,163.2 feet that morning. That was a rise of one-tenth of one foot from the previous month. McCasland reported the lake received 2,986 acre-feet of inflow in September, with 2,387 acre-feet of evaporation and other losses.
Board President Robert Lopez expressed surprise at the lake’s minimal rise, noting he’d seen overflowing banks at Trementina Creek just a few days before.
The board did not vote on allocating water during its October meeting because growing season is over. The irrigation system has not allocated water for two years because of persistent drought.
According to the Oct. 11 report by the U.S. Drought Monitor, eastern New Mexico remained in moderate, severe or extreme drought conditions.
McCasland also said during his report that district workers had performed spot burning of weeds around the canals.
“We were not getting a clean burn because of the green weeds in the canal, so we decided to resume burning after a freeze this winter,” he wrote.
McCasland said he was disinclined to do much burning around canals until the region receives a lot more rain or the northern mountains accumulate ample snowpack. With propane rising to more than $3 a gallon, he said such burns are expensive.
In other business:
• The board voted to twice advertise an opening on the municipal board of directors position in the Quay County Sun, then would consider applicants in its November meeting. The appointed member would serve until the next election in late 2023.
Longtime secretary-treasurer U.V. Henson stepped down in September due to health reasons, and he and his wife moved to Amarillo.
• The board will outline a 2023 capital outlay request to the New Mexico Legislature at a future meeting once it learns more about funding parameters in the upcoming session.
Lopez said local state Sen. Pat Woods said at a recent meeting he was unsure how much capital outlay money would be available. The Eastern Plains Council of Governments made the same assessment.
Woods has complained about governments and municipalities not spending previously awarded capital outlay funds. McCasland said he would send a letter to the senator, saying the district didn’t spend its capital outlay money for a long period because supply-chain problems kept equipment from being delivered in a timely manner. He cited one instance of the district not receiving a Bobcat skid steer for 18 months due to production issues.
• McCasland said workers removed a rusted-out radial gate on the Conchas main canal. He said repairs would cost about $8,000, compared to $3,500 in similar repairs on another radial gate three years ago — an indication of a spike in inflation.
“There was a little sticker shock on that,” he said.
• McCasland reported he ordered gasoline and diesel for the district that “should carry us into the 2023 budget year.” He said he may order more fuel soon due to inflationary pressures. Oil prices began rising earlier this month after OPEC announced it would cut production.