Interior Secretary to settle northern NM water dispute

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be in New Mexico to finalize the latest settlement of a decades-long water rights battle in northern New Mexico. 

The Interior Department says Salazar will be meeting Thursday in Santa Fe with pueblo leaders from Tesuque, Nambe, Pojoaque and San Ildefonso. 

The water rights settlement was one of four included in legislation signed by President Barack Obama in 2011 that was aimed at delivering clean drinking water to tribes in New Mexico, Arizona and Montana. 

Under the agreement, a regional water system will be built to serve the four New Mexico pueblos and their neighbors. The federal government, the state and Santa Fe County will share the cost of building the system. 

The price tag has been estimated at more than $177 million.

Interior Secretary to settle northern NM water dispute