Groups Rally for River Restoration though Water Conservation
March 7, 2001

Fresh from its kick-off event at the US Bureau of Reclamation Regional Offices in Salt Lake City and organizing meetings with river restoration advocates along the San Juan River, the Sustainable Water Project Tour will roll into Albuquerque on Wednesday, March 7 for a noon rally at City Hall.

Sponsored by more than ninety advocacy groups from throughout the Southwest, across the country and from Mexico, the tour is publicizing the need for water agencies using Colorado River water to give back one percent of their water to restore the Colorado River delta. The City of Albuquerque has rights to water that otherwise would flow to the Colorado River delta. It is diverted from the San Juan River of the Colorado watershed into the Chama River of the Rio Grande.

"These are ecosystems, not plumbing systems," says John Weisheit, President of Glen Canyon Action Network, one of the principle organizers of the six-city, 10-day tour. He and the others are traveling with an empty 4,000-gallon water tanker truck to symbolize the need for water donations to the dying Colorado River delta, and donations to parched rivers everywhere.

"We hope the City will help us keep some of the water in the San Juan, and let the water's life-giving forces reach all the way to the delta and the sea," says Thomas Morris, Jr., President of the Diné Medicinemen's Association, who will be traveling with the Tour to Albuquerque. "We must learn to meet our needs without being so wasteful and disrespectful of our rivers and our mother earth."

According to the most recent US Geological Survey figures, New Mexico's domestic water use is more 86% higher than the national average of 101 gallons per person per day. That's an additional 7.8 water tank trucks per year for every person in New Mexico. Water conservation and recycling programs are available now that can could bring this consumption down considerably, saving more water annually than the combined amount being asked of all Colorado river water users to help restore the delta.

"If the City of Albuquerque, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and other San Juan-Chama contractors did a better job of conserving water and devoting it to ecosystem purposes we wouldn't be in our current dire straits – in both the Rio Grande and Colorado river basins," says John Horning, with Forests Guardians of Santa Fe, a co-sponsor of Wednesday's rally.

"As we sit here upstream, it's easy to forget the damage our water use may be doing to critical environments hundreds or thousands of miles away. The Colorado River delta is dying, the Rio Grande's too. It's time to get serious about water conservation," adds Weisheit.

Among the others joining Morris, Horning and Weisheit at the rally will be Sage Remmington, of the Native American Environmental Justice Advocacy Fund, and Peace and Dignity Journey from the Chemehuevi Nation of the Lower Colorado who will perform traditional music.

The tour is being organized in conjuction with the 4th International Day of Action Against Dams and for River Water and Life, March 14, 2001. From Albuquerque, the tour will head to Phoenix, across Hoover Dam to Las Vegas, to Blythe California and concluding in Los Angeles on March 14.