A New York company wants to move water from Catron County into the Rio Grande, a plan that has upset residents in southwestern New Mexico. Augustin Plains Ranch LLC proposes to pump billions of gallons of water into the Rio Grande. Its drilling application with the state engineer's office said that could help the state fulfill interstate water compact obligations to Texas, alleviate pressure on farmers to sell water rights and provide a new source of water to New Mexico cities. The company has applied to drill 37 wells, each about 2,000 feet deep, in Catron County and pump 54,000 acre feet of groundwater a year into the Rio Grande. Water could go for agricultural or municipal uses, and Augustin Ranch has suggested the state could buy it to meet delivery requirements under the 1938 Rio Grande Compact.

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