Area of Focus
Anjali develops and advocates for policy and other programmatic changes that will protect and improve New Mexico’s rivers. Her work aims to revitalize and protect rivers and streams in the state to support ecosystems, local communities, and recreation, through improvements to water governance and river protection.
As the Healthy Rivers team’s first staff member based in New Mexico, she brings deep technical and policy expertise around protecting rivers and bolstering water security and is further building WRA’s water presence in the state. She collaborates with partners, the legislature, regulatory bodies, and agencies including the Office of State Engineer, the Interstate Stream Commission, and the New Mexico Environment Department on state-level policy development and advocacy. Using tools such as environmental flow protections and Outstanding Natural Resource Waters designations, Bean is focused on keeping water in rivers and ensuring waterways and aquatic habitats in the Colorado River and Rio Grande basins are healthy now and into the future.
Background & Accomplishments
Prior to joining WRA at the beginning of WRA, Anjali was the water resources manager for Santa Fe County where she worked on tribal water rights settlements, water resources planning, and other water issues. In this role she represented the county in successfully renegotiating the terms of a water rights settlement between four Pueblo nations in New Mexico, the county, state, and federal government, to address significant project cost increases.
Before that, she had a roughly decade-long career in Washington, D.C., in the international development field focused on urban development, housing, and access to clean water and basic sanitation in the developing world. Through roles with Habitat for Humanity International and IHC Global, her policy and research were used to influence policy and decision-making at the U.S. Department of State, USAID, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Anjali was born and raised in Albuquerque and returned to New Mexico in 2016.
Education
- Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from the American University in Washington, D.C.
- Master of Water Resources from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque
Favorite thing about the West
The pastel sunsets and dark skies of the high desert.
