Strong Rules Are Key to Safeguarding New Mexico’s Waters

Article June 5, 2026

Seven bright red and yellow rafts and kayaks float on a river through a canyon. The hillsides are dotted with low brush and grasses. The sky above is a deep blue. — People come from all over the world to experience New Mexico’s outdoor recreation, such as rafting on the Rio Grande, which generates $3.6 billion annually and creates 31,000 jobs in the state.

New Mexico’s rivers, streams, and wetlands sustain people’s connections to land and culture, nourish ecosystems and wildlife, and support the state’s outdoor recreation economy. Now, the state’s Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) has an opportunity to adopt strong, comprehensive, clear, and enforceable rules to safeguard New Mexico’s vital waters from pollution.

Recent federal policy changes—including a 2023 Supreme Court decision—left roughly 95% of New Mexico’s streams and 88% of its wetlands without the protections of the Clean Water Act. In response, in 2025, the New Mexico Legislature passed—and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed into law—S.B. 21, the Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act. The law creates a state-led permitting and enforcement program to administer Clean Water Act-style protections for waters still under federal jurisdiction and to strengthen safeguards for those now outside the narrowed federal oversight.

However, without strong implementation rules, S.B. 21’s ability to preserve and restore protections for vulnerable waterways risks falling short. To ensure that this law realizes its potential, the WQCC should adopt five key components in its rulemaking:

Protect the full breadth of New Mexico’s surface waters: The program must safeguard all of the state’s rivers, streams, and wetlands, as well as the smaller tributaries and drainages that sustain them. Efforts to chip away at previous protections and exclude specific types of waters should be rejected.
Be at least as rigorous as lost federal protections: Incorporate the 404(b)(1) guidelines from the Clean Water Act to ensure that harms from pollution and dredge-and-fill activities are avoided, minimized, or compensated for.
Fully protect Tribal waters: Require the New Mexico Environment Department to assess whether pollution could cause or contribute to violations of downstream Tribal water quality standards.
Ensure robust public participation: Provide New Mexicans with opportunities to have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting their water, including creation of a 15-day public comment period on all general permit notices of intent.
Protect wildlife: Require consultation or engagement with the New Mexico Department of Wildlife to provide input on the surface water permitting process, especially for at-risk wetlands and stream-side habitat.

S.B. 21 provides a historic opportunity for New Mexico to establish a strong state permitting system to safeguard rivers, streams, wetlands, and other essential waters—and the choices that the state makes next will determine whether that promise is realized. The Pew Charitable Trusts, alongside partners in the state, is urging the WQCC to adopt strong, enforceable rules that ensure clean water for communities and wildlife for decades to come.

Andres Esparza works on water and habitat conservation and connectivity in Arizona and New Mexico for The Pew Charitable Trusts’ U.S. conservation project.