Use and Management of Hydrologic Resources
in New Mexico
Water Work Table
Mesa de Trabajo Sobre Agua
NEW MEXICO REPORT
August, 2006
Utton Transboundary Resources Center
University of New Mexico School of Law
New Mexico
New Mexico’s Geographic and Socioeconomic Profile
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State Capital – Santa Fe
Geographic Boundaries
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North - Colorado
South - Mexico and Texas
East - Texas and Oklahoma
West - Arizona
California
Nevada
Utah
Colorado
New
Arizona
Mexico
Total Area: Surface area =
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Texas
315,114 km2
121,666 Square Miles
Mexico
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Federal Lands – 34.2%
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State Lands – 11.8%
Native American Lands – 9.4%
Political Subdivisions
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32 counties
Oklahoma
Population and Socioeconomics
 State Population
1,903,000 (2005)
• Rural – 672,876
• Urban – 1,230,410
 Socioeconomic Profile
• Per Capita Income
– Rural – USD $21,321
– Urban – USD $27,033
• Poverty Rate
– Rural – 20.2%
– Urban – 16.3%
Major Urban Areas
Population
Albuquerque Metro Area
603,562
Las Cruces Metro Area
189,444
Santa Fe
140,855
(U.S. Census Bureau)
Economic Activities
(in millions USD)
Industry
2003
2004
Total Gross State Product
57,078
61,012
Mining
4,181
4,766
Manufacturing
5,238
5,466
Retail Trade
4,204
4,431
Finance and Insurance
2,158
2,284
Real Estate, Rental, and
Leasing
6,635
7,105
Health Care and Social
Assistance
3,801
4,107
Agriculture
1,056
1,001
(U.S. Department of Commerce – 2005)
Hydrologic Resources of New Mexico
 Precipitation averages:
• Desert / valleys
8 inches (20.3 cm) / year
• Mountains
30 inches (76.2 cm) / year
 Most rainfall occurs in
intense seasonal storms
 Most precipitation falls
in the mountains as snow
Gila River
Major River Systems
Major river systems include:
• Rio Grande
• Pecos River
• Gila River (tributary to Colorado River)
• Canadian River
• San Juan River (tributary to Colorado River)
New Mexico's Major Lakes and Reservoirs
www.usbr.gov
Drought in New Mexico
Reservoir levels as of March 2006 as a percent of capacity:
Reservoir
Name
Navajo
Heron
El Vado
Abiquiu
Cochiti
Elephant
Butte
Caballo
Brantley
Santa
Rosa
Conchas
Capacity
Level
89%
38%
59%
31%
10%
Current
Storage*
1,503.4
152.6
110.0
169.3
50.5
Maximum
Storage*
1,696.0
400.0
186.3
554.5
502.3
22%
6%
23%
454.9
21.3
33.2
2,065.0
331.5
147.5
15%
38%
65.9
96.6
447.0
254.0
*thousands of acre-feet
(USGS - 2004)
(CLIMAS, University of Arizona)
Surface water
• 11 surface water
basins
• Managed on
watershed scale
(NMED - 1998)
Groundwater
• 33 “Declared”
groundwater basins
• State Engineer can only
regulate water use in
declared basins
(NMED - 1998)
Office of the State Engineer
• Established by New Mexico Statute
• Responsible for managing the allocation of groundand surface water resources
• New Mexico Environment Department primarily
responsible for monitoring water quality
New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission
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Operates within the Office of the State Engineer
 Manages and oversees New Mexico’s compact obligations in 8 interstate
basins
• Animas-La Plata River Compact
• Canadian River Compact
• Upper Colorado River Compact
• Colorado River Compact
• La Plata River Compact
• Pecos River Compact
• Rio Grande Compact
• Costillo Creek Compact
 Rio Grande Compact –
• Purpose: To allocate the waters in the Rio Grande above Fort
Quitman, TX
• Signed in 1938
• Includes – Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas
• Establishes a commission including the state engineers of
Colorado and New Mexico, an appointed commissioner from Texas,
and a representative of the U.S. This commission meets annually
 Pecos River Compact –
• Purpose: To establish delivery obligations to Texas. This compact
is managed by a Pecos Compact commissioner
• Signed in 1948
• Includes – New Mexico and Texas
• Problems: U.S. Supreme Court prohibits net shortfalls in delivery
rates. Drought and well-pumping have brought deliveries below
this level for many years
• Colorado River Compact –
 Purpose: To determine and coordinate the flows, appropriation,
consumption, and use of water in the Colorado River Basin
 Signed in 1922
 Upper Basin States – Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and
parts of Arizona
 Lower Basin States – California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and
parts of Arizona
• Upper Colorado River Basin Compact –
 Purpose: Creation of the Upper Colorado River Commision
 Signed in 1948
 Commission includes – United States, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah,
and Wyoming
1906 Treaty with Mexico
• Convention between the United States and Mexico
• Equitable Distribution of the Waters of the Rio
Grande
• 60,000 acre feet delivery requirement at Mexican
Canal
• Extraordinary drought provision
(USFWS - 1999)
Water Use
Public
Supplies and
Domestic Use,
9%
Irrigated
Agriculture,
76%
Evaporation,
10%
Livestock,
Commercial,
Industrial, and
Mining, 5%
(http://www.ose.state.nm.us)
Domestic Water Use
 90% of state population uses groundwater for drinking
• Albuquerque
– Aquifer not as large as originally thought. Moving to use of
surface water from San Juan-Chama Project. This is NM water
pursuant to Colorado Compact, transbasin diversion for use in
Rio Grande Basin
• Santa Fe
– Also relies primarily on groundwater. Will use San Juan-Chama
water and lease surface water rights from Pueblos
San Juan-Chama Project
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Encompasses many planning regions
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Colorado River Compact water
 110,000 AF annually
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Water to be used by:
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Albuquerque (largest share)
Jicarilla Apache
Santa Fe City and County
Los Alamos County
Espanola
Belen
Los Lunas
Taos
Bernalillo
Red River
Twinning
Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District
Pojoaque Valley Irrigation District
(USBOR - 2006)
(City of Albuquerque - 2006)
Institutional Framework and
Management of Hydrologic Resources
 New Mexico follows the prior appropriation doctrine
• All appropriated waters must be put to beneficial use
– Beneficial use shall be the basis, the measure and the limit
of the right to the use of water
• Priority shall give the better right
 State Engineer - Administers the Water Codes for
Surface and Groundwater
Adjudication of Water Rights
• Judicial process
• Who owns what water
and in what amount
• Less that 20% of the state
is fully adjudicated
• About 60% of the state has active
adjudications in progress
• Middle Rio Grande, area of ½
population of state, has not
been adjudicated
(OSE - 2005)
Water Planning in New Mexico
• State Water Plan was completed and approved by the Interstate
Stream Commission in 2003
http://www.ose.state.nm.us/publications_state_water_plans.html
 Extensive public involvement
 Integrates regional planning efforts conducted statewide
 Both the Office of the State Engineer and the Interstate Stream
Commission are working to implement 98 strategies outlined in the Plan
 2006 Status Report
http://www.ose.state.nm.us/PDF/Publications/StateWaterPlans/swp-200606-progress-report.pdf
Water Planning Regions
1 - Northeast New Mexico
2 - San Juan
3 - Jemez y Sangre
4 - Southwest New Mexico
5 - Tularosa, Salt and Sacramento River
Basins
6 - Northwest New Mexico
7 - Taos
8 - Mora-San Miguel
9 - Colfax
10 - Lower Pecos Valley
11 - Lower Rio Grande
12 - Middle Rio Grande
13 - Estancia Basin
14 - Rio Arriba
15 - Socorro-Sierra
16 - Lea County
SW New Mexico Regional Water Planning
 Population growth near border
• Economic growth attributed to industrial operations
and retirement communities will drive population increase
(SWNM Regional Water Plan, 2005)
 Majority of water use in border region is from groundwater
• Irrigation
• Domestic
• Industrial / Mining
• Commercial
 Water quality and quantity in transboundary Mimbres Basin
• Salinity increases from Columbus, NM (north) to
Palomas, CH (south)
• Groundwater pumping has reversed water flow
direction from south to north
(NMWRRI, 2000 & SWNM Regional Water Plan, 2005)
(NM WRRI - 2005)
Lower Rio Grande Regional Water Planning
 Water Management Alternatives
• Developed for each aquifer
• Recommendations to decrease demand in some sectors,
and increase supply through desalination, phreatophyte
management and use of reclaimed water
 Elephant Butte Reservoir
• Stores water for irrigation for both
New Mexico and Texas
• Established to help U.S. meet
meet treaty obligations to Mexico
(LRG Regional Water Plan, 2003)
 Groundwater aquifers
• Mesilla, Hueco Bolson, Jornada del Muerto, Rincon Valley
– Mesilla and Hueco Bolson are shared with Mexico
and Texas
• Groundwater is recharged by leakage from the Rio Grande
and irrigation return flows
(NM WRRI - 2005)
Active Water Resource Management
State Water Plan Goals: To ensure water is available for the continued and future
economic vitality of the state; Protecting senior water rights
 Measurement
• Measurement and monitoring of ground-water, surface-water, snowpack, and water diversions
 Management
• Creation of water districts to allow the Office of the State Engineer to
enforce priority-based water administration of water in times of short
supply
 Markets
• The state will streamline water markets in order to encourage the
more efficient use of limited resources
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Lower Pecos Basin
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Additional efforts being made to comply with the
Pecos River Compact and U.S. Supreme Court
Amended Decree
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Hired additional water masters
Lower Rio Grande
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AWRM will help meet critical needs in times of
reduced surface water flow
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Recent metering order and hiring of a water master
San Juan
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Negotiations with the State Engineer for shortage
sharing agreements
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Hired a water master
Mimbres
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The upper portion of the Mimbres will be managed
under the AWRM
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Hired a water master
Rio Gallinas
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Nambe-Pojoaque-Tesuque Basin
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Area dominated by surface water rights with
controversy between acequias and municipal water
use
Hired water master for Aamodt adjudication. Affects
Pueblo and non-Pueblo water users
Rio Chama
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State Engineer oversees administration of the San
Juan-Chama Project water
Sources
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Bureau of Business and Economic Research. University of New Mexio.
Accessed on April 3, 2006. Updated on March 28, 2006. Available at:
http://www.unm.edu/~bber/econ/sttpipci.htm
Bureau of Economic Analysis. U.S. Department of Commerce. Available
at: http://www.bea.gov/bea/regional/gsp. Accessed on March 20, 2006.
Updated on October 26, 2005.
City of Albuquerque San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project. Available
at: http://www.sjcdrinkingwater.org/. Accessed August 18, 2006.
Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc. (2005) Southwest New Mexico
Regional Water Plan, May 2005. Available at:
http://www.ose.state.nm.us/waterinfo/NMWaterPlanning/regions/SouthwestNM/southwestnm-menu.html.
Accessed August 16, 2006.
Economic Research Service. United States Department of Agriculture.
State Fact Sheets: New Mexico. Accessed on March 20, 2006. Updated
12/8/2005. Available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov
Sources
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Lower Rio Grande Regional Water Plan, August 2004. Available at:
http://wrri.nmsu.edu/lrgwuo/page2.html. Accessed August 18, 2006.
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New Mexico Environment Department. 1998. Water Quality Control
Commission. State of New Mexico. Water Quality And Water Pollution
Control in New Mexico. A State Report Required By The U.S. Congress
Under §305(b) of the Clean Water Act. Available at:
http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swqb/305b/1998/305b_98.html
New Mexico Office of the State Engineer. 2005. Accessed on April 3,
2006. Updated 2005. Available at: http://www.ose.state.nm.us/
New Mexico State Water Plan, 2003. Available at:
http://www.ose.state.nm.us/publications_state_water_plans.html.
Accessed August 18, 2006.
US Bureau of Reclamation – San Juan-Chama Project. Available at:
http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/sjuanchama.html. Accessed August
16, 2006.
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