HB 54

                                1  HOUSE BILL 54
                                2      57TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - SECOND SESSION, 2026
                                3  INTRODUCED BY
                                4  Cathrynn N. Brown
                                5
                                6
                                7
                                8
                                9
                                10  AN ACT
                                11   RELATING TO WATER; PROVIDING THAT REPLACEMENT WELLS WITHIN ONE
                                12   HUNDRED FEET OF THE ORIGINAL WELL ARE NOT SUBJECT TO PROTEST;
                                13   ALLOWING AN AGGRIEVAL AND REQUEST FOR HEARING TO BE FILED.
                                14
                                15   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
                                16  SECTION 1.    Section 72-12-22 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1959,
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                                17   Chapter 41, Section 1) is amended to read:
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                                18  "72-12-22.    REPLACEMENT WELL WITHIN ONE HUNDRED FEET.--
                                19  A.   The owner of a water right may drill and use a
                                20   replacement well drilled within one hundred feet of the
                                21   original well prior to application to the state engineer and
                                22   the publication and hearing set out in Section [75-11-3 New
                                23   Mexico Statutes Annotated, 1953 Compilation] 72-12-3 NMSA 1978
                                24   if:
                                25  (1)   the well is drilled into the same [and
                                     .233014.1
                                1    only the same] underground stream, channel, artesian basin,
                                2    reservoir or lake as the original well; [and]
                                3  (2)    the appropriation is of the same amount of
                                4    water allowed by [his] the owner's water right in the original
                                5    well; [and]
                                6  (3)    an emergency situation exists in which the
                                7    delay caused by application, publication and hearing would
                                8    result in crop loss or other serious economic loss; and
                                9  (4)    [he] the owner files an application or
                                10   notifies the office of the state engineer [office] of these
                                11   facts and the location of the proposed replacement well by
                                12   registered letter, prior to drilling; provided that [he] the
                                13   owner shall file application for a permit within [30] thirty
                                14   days after drilling begins.
                                15  B.   Applications for replacement wells within one
                                16   hundred feet of the original well are not subject to protest.
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                                17   If the applicant is aggrieved by the state engineer action on
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                                18   the application, an aggrieval and request for hearing may be
                                19   filed pursuant to Section 72-7-1 NMSA 1978.
                                20  [B.] C.     The owners of other water rights, who claim
                                21   to be injured by the drilling of a replacement well under these
                                22   circumstances, may not enjoin the drilling of such a well or
                                23   the use of the water from the well, but are limited to an
                                24   action at law to recover damages [and to their right to protest
                                25   the granting of a permit]."
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