Judge rules against Rio Rancho in Pueblo of Sandia water rights case

RIO RANCHO — It’s back to the drawing board for the city of Rio Rancho when it comes to applications for a half dozen groundwater permits.

A local judge denied the city’s applications to the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, citing the city’s failure to prove that the applications would not impair the Pueblo of Sandia’s existing water rights or the public welfare of the state. District Court Judge George Eichwald’s opinion concluded the years-long case that included an administrative hearing and March 2025 bench trial.

The Pueblo’s lawsuit came in response to the state engineer’s approval two years earlier of the city’s permit applications, allowing Rio Rancho to transfer a portion of its water rights to offset the impact of groundwater pumping on the surface water of the Rio Grande stream system, located close to the Pueblo.

But the pueblo, which uses the Rio Grande’s water for cultural, ceremonial and religious purposes, protested the filing of the applications, which went before an administrative law judge in a trial-like setting in February 2023.

Following that hearing, the state engineer approved the applications in March 2023 after it found the city met statutory requirements to transfer up to 24,000 acre feet of ground water rights.

In May 2023, the Pueblo appealed to the 13th Judicial District Court of Sandoval County, arguing the water rights transfers would not reduce impact on the Rio Grande, and that both the state engineer and city of Rio Rancho both failed to analyze the potential impacts of their actions on the river and the Pueblo before approving the applications.

In March 2025, the parties went to trial, which lasted a week shorter than expected, according to court records.

City spokesperson Jaley Turpen wrote in an email that the city has “no comment on the ruling or any action the city might take in the future.”

Felix Chaves, the governor of the Pueblo of Sandia, said through a spokesperson he had no comment.

The Office of the State Engineer is “reviewing the decision and will evaluate our options,” wrote agency spokesperson Maggie Fitzgerald in an email.