How the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District Is Conserving Water and Meeting Compact Deliveries Amid Drought
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he Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD), headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, offers irrigation, drainage, flood control, and responsible water conservation services to irrigators and farmers in the middle agricultural region of the state. In this interview, MRGCD CEO and Chief Engineer Mike Hamman speaks with Irrigation Leader about the district’s history, the drought conditions confronting it today, and the steps it is taking to continue successfully fulfilling its mission. Irrigation Leader: Tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
El Vado Dam and Reservoir. Today, the reservoir is only 5 percent full.
The Isleta Diversion Dam.
14 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the MRGCD. irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MRGCD.
A measuring weir in the Arenal Canal.
Mike Hamman: I have been in the water resources management for more than 36 years. Prior to graduating from the civil engineering program at the University of New Mexico, I was an intern with the City of Albuquerque, working on water supply and water resource issues. After college, I started working with the Bureau of Reclamation in Utah. My work there focused on the Central Utah Project as well as various smaller facilities and canals, and in some cases, resource management areas with dam construction. I was in a rotation program that allowed employees to experience all aspects of the agency’s work. Eventually, I ended up on a 9‑month construction project in Wyoming at Fontenelle and Big Sandy Dams. Through that, I got good, foundational experience in large water resource projects. I also worked in southern New Mexico on the Bradley Dam Project, and then moved into water resources management, doing operations and maintenance for 11 Reclamation projects in the Rio Grande basin, from southern Colorado to Fort Quitman, Texas. My area of expertise evolved into water accounting, water operations, and water management requiring multiagency coordination. I took an early-out departure offer from federal service during the Clinton administration and went to work for the City of Santa Fe and later the Jicarilla Apache Nation. This turned out to be great experience and helped me see things from perspectives other than federal optics. Thereafter, I rejoined Reclamation, focusing on tribal water issues and municipal water management issues. I was the manager of the Albuquerque Area Office for 6 years. At that point, I retired from federal service and joined the MRGCD as its CEO and chief engineer. That is where I’ve been for the past 6 years.
