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Addressing the Gradual Decline in New

Mexico’s Water Reserves and Sources

Water Watchers

Addressing the Gradual Decline in New

Mexico’s Water Reserves and Sources
A Report from the English 2210 Final Project Team
Korbin Bauer
Lenin Ashby
Parker McMillan
December 2, 2021
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Addressing the Gradual Decline in New
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» Table of Contents
Title Page-------------------------------------------------------- 1
Abstract---------------------------------------------------------- 2
Introduction------------------------------------------------------ 2
Methodology---------------------------------------------------- 3
Results Summary----------------------------------------------- 5
Results Discussion---------------------------------------------- 8
Conclusion------------------------------------------------------- 9
Recommendations---------------------------------------------- 10
Glossary---------------------------------------------------------- 11
References------------------------------------------------------- 12

» Abstract
The purpose of this report is to understand why water is becoming increasingly scarce and
important to preserve in New Mexico and what we can do to help solve this problem. The point
of this research is to highlight the major water crisis that New Mexico is currently approaching
and identify ways that it can be mended. We divided this topic into three more specific
categories allowing us to collect and analyze data pertaining to each major topic. We first wanted
to determine what has caused this water shortage, then we wished to understand the status of the
shortage, and then identify what we can do to help solve it in the future. Our research led us to
find that we have signed numerous water contracts as of the current year, most of the contracts
are due for review within the next few years. We also discovered that the people of New Mexico
are very wasteful and not sparring with their water usage. These findings indicate that there are
items that are coming up within the next few years that can be instrumental in the efforts to save
New Mexico. We concluded that there are a few recommendations that can be made for the
citizens and government of this state. We recommend that as citizens we can take steps to
reduce, reuse, and recycle more by implementing technologies such as water-efficient
appliances. We also recommended that the government re-analyze water compacts and
distributions among our state and other states.

» Introduction
For this report, we were tasked with discovering a topic that was of local importance to the
citizens of New Mexico, and we were asked to research this topic thoroughly and raft this report.
We discovered that there is currently a dwelling water crisis in the state of New Mexico that is
negatively affecting multiple parts and aspects of the people and state. This discovery led us to
choose this topic as our research topic.
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New Mexico is currently faced with a water crisis that is on the cusp of becoming a serious
disaster. The purpose of this report is to identify the causes of this water crisis that have led us to
this current state, and we wish to identify some ways in which the people of New Mexico and the
state’s government can help our state government get this crisis under control. As per the
research we conducted, we recommend that the people of New Mexico should reduce the amount
of water they use, specifically by switching to water-efficient appliances and techniques, and
they should be more conscious about reducing, reusing, and recycling. The government can act
to revise water division among entities of the state, and they need to revise the numerous waters
compacts we have signed in the past two decades.

This issue has become increasingly important to the citizens of New Mexico as is has become
increasingly hard to many things we once freely enjoyed. The free use of water we enjoyed a
decade ago is dwindling. The cost of water use has drastically increased over time and has
caused many to not be able to afford the lifestyle they once enjoyed. All the while, people with
money continue to use water in wasteful ways and increase the difficulty of those who cannot
afford it. The lack of water will soon lead to other crises that could affect the things that draw
people to the state. Without action we will lose the things that make New Mexico what we are.

Our report focused on the research and formatting of three main sections.
1. How did New Mexico fall into such a water crisis?
2. What is the current state of the water crisis?
3. How can the citizens and government take steps to initiate the remedy of the crisis?

» Methodology
We wanted to divide our topic into three specific subtopics:

1. What caused the water shortage?

2. The current state
3. What we can do to help solve this problem

We did this not only because New Mexico’s water shortage problem is complicated but also to
allow us to focus on more specific topics to research. The problem is complicated because it
involves two other states and another country. New Mexico along with Colorado, Texas, and
Mexico have responsibility to manage and share the water.

We divided our topic into the three main subtopics and then did some quick preliminary research
to get an idea of what we wanted to focus our attention on and how it pertains to the appropriate
subtopic. Then we did more through research from reputable sources like the UNM and NMSU
library databases as well as government websites pertaining to water usage, pollution, and
conservation. We used this information to explain the causes, current state, and eventually what
we can do to help solve this problem.

1. What Caused the Water Shortage?

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We wanted to make sure we touched on the topics that caused the water shortage because it
allows people to better understand how we got in the situation we are currently in, and it directly
correlates to what we can do to help solve this problem.

To accurately assess the water shortage in New Mexico it is important to know where we get our
water from, about 87% of New Mexico’s water comes from groundwater (largest percentage
number of southwestern states). New Mexico also draws water from the Colorado River Basin,
as does Arizona and Utah, New Mexico uses a series of dams and ditches to control the flow of
water from the northern part of the state down to where it exits New Mexico at the border of
Texas and Mexico.

When researching the causes, we found that it is the result of a combination of a lot of factors
including climate change, increasing population, increasing industrial use, legal regulations, and
natural conditions. We wanted to cover all these topics because again it is a combination of all
these factors to one degree or another. We tried to hit the main points for each of the main factors
to provide an adequate understanding of how they each effected water in New Mexico. Here are
the main points we aimed to touch on:
• Climate Change- as climate change compounds a multi-year drought, temperatures begin to
increase reducing snowpack and increasing the amount of water lost to evaporation
• Increasing Population- until very recently, as population increased water usage has increased
• Increasing Industrial Usage- this tie right into some of the legal regulations as it will become
increasingly important to tightly regulate water so there is enough for the public and make sure
the water that is used does not contaminate other water or its sources
• Legal Regulations- New Mexico has made numerous legal agreements to store, distribute, share,
and use water with several states and Mexico and this contributes to the amount of water we as
New Mexicans have to divide among ourselves
• Natural Conditions- ties into climate change as the 2020-2021 monsoon season was the fourth
driest on record and it is amplified by warmer temperatures

We researched these topics individually and then discussed how they tied together to get a grasp
of the current state of water in New Mexico and then what we could do to solve the problem.

2. The Current State

We wanted to look at how a shortage of water affects New Mexico economically,
environmentally, and health-wise. A shortage of water directly and indirectly for example a lack
of water may result in a smaller lake but not really slow down much tourism however, if the lack
of water results in large wildfires and the forest is shut down that would definitely affect tourism.

New Mexico has a genuine issue with the current state of water. This is a severe problem for
numerous reasons: state-wide agriculture in New Mexico is worth $3.44 billion providing over
149,000 jobs, tourism, much of which revolves around water including skiing, recreation on
lakes or in the forest, food specifically green Chile, accounts for another $1.5 billion and
95,000+ jobs, and an expected 15% population increase in population between 2000 and 2030
demand for water will only increase. The United States Drought Monitor states that 99.85% of
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Addressing the Gradual Decline in New
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the state is “abnormally dry,” 56.14% of the state is in a “severe drought,” and 14.42% of the
state is in an “extreme drought.”

3. What We Can Do
New Mexico has options as far as what it can do to slow and eventually help solve this problem.
We identified three major things New Mexico and New Mexican residents can do to begin to
solve this problem. Use water efficient appliances/become more conscious of water usage, build
infrastructure, and revisit legal agreements with other states and Mexico. We wanted to research
these three main topics to hone in on some of the main points of things we can do to conserve
water while keeping it attainable. It is important to know that these changes will take time, we
suggest to first assess and understand where New Mexico is at right now as far as water
availability then acting to best store, distribute, utilize, and conserve water for New Mexico and
the surrounding states.

» Results Summary
In this section, we will discuss the results the that have come from our research three main
recommendations we have to begin to help New Mexico conserve more water. We suggest that
New Mexican residents use more water efficient appliances/become more conscious of water
usage, build infrastructure, and revisit legal agreements with other states and Mexico.

New Mexico faces a lot of water supply issues but there are agencies that produced a few ideas
to help reduce the damage of wasting so much water. The Albuquerque Bernalillo Water County
Utility Authority. (ABCWUA’s) and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA’s) are
working together on this situation ABCWUA’s started a program that is called Low Flow and is
to try to make every home in the state of New Mexico have their showerheads, toilets, and
flushing urinals labeled with a water sensor to make it easier for people to save money and water.
This method has been efficient from 1994 to 2011 and people decreased the usage of water from
252 gallons to 150 gallons per day.
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Addressing the Gradual Decline in New
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Economic Flow Chart of Water Usage, created by Korbin Bauer

In the New Mexico state, small cities are also contributing to the effort of helping reduce water
usage small cities like Gallup and Santa Fe the residents can get the labeled Water sense on their
toilets and other products in their house because the small cities have a huge impact and it can
save up to a lot of gallons of water if every home in the state of New Mexico use the water sense
labeled instead of their showerheads the state can save up to almost 2 billion gallons of water and
$10 million in water cost and save up to $20 million in energy cost yearly with this idea people
from New Mexico can use their water efficiently on their landscapes.
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Addressing the Gradual Decline in New
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Graphic taken from the OSE website
In Albuquerque, they ban water sprinkles
from 11:00 am till 7:00 pm for 7 months to
help reduce the evaporation. In Santa Fe they
started a program for professionals in
irrigation to get certified from Qualified
Water Efficient Landscapers program
(QWEL). This is a water sense labeled
program to help people to save money by
utilizing modern technologies.

New Mexico could really benefit from new infrastructure as most of the current infrastructure,
that is used to hold, move, and regulate New Mexico’s water supply, was built 50+ years ago and
under completely different conditions. Building new infrastructure would allow for a growing
resident and industrial population and other conditions like climate change to be considered. This
would allow for increased conservation as well as efficiency and safety. New Mexicans,
especially farmers, would benefit from new infrastructure as water could more effectively and
safely. New Mexico relies heavily on infrastructure to utilize its limited water supply as Heron
Reservoir, El Vado Reservoir, Cochiti Reservoir, Abiquiu Reservoir, Elephant Butte Reservoir,
and Caballo Reservoir all are utilized to store water before it is released downstream to be used.

This Photo on the left was taken and edited on November 23, 2021, by Parker McMillan
The Photo on the right was found through the OSE (Office of State Engineer) link
Both depict conditions at Elephant Butte Reservoir

We also recommended New Mexico revisit all legal agreements, involving water and/or water
rights, especially with other states or Mexico to reassess the current state and plan for the future.
Many of the agreements New Mexico made with other states were made 20+ years ago and have
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Addressing the Gradual Decline in New
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not been revisited or revised in years. Revisiting these agreements will allow New Mexico and
other states to look at the current situation and make the best possible agreement for each state to
best manage their water. We also think it would be important to look at other legal documents
involving water, such as the Clean Water Act as recently one of New Mexico’s streams was no
longer protected from industrial pollution underneath this act. We could do a lot of work and
spend a lot of money on conserving more water, but it would not matter if this newly conserved
water becomes polluted. This is especially true with New Mexico’s underground aquifers as they
provide a large majority of New Mexico’s water.

» Results Discussion
We found that New Mexico, specifically New Mexican residents and politicians can do
something to begin to solve this problem. We suggested three main recommendations that can be
put into place relatively quickly and would make a significant difference in the conservation of
water.

Implementing water conscious practices and appliances would save water and money. Some
cities have already started implementing these practices and appliances and it has almost cut in
half the gallons of water used a day in the Albuquerque area. If all households in New Mexico
implemented water sense showerheads billions of gallons of water could be saved and millions
of dollars for the state to use in other areas.

One of the areas that we suggest the state spend some more money on is infrastructure that we
use to store, move, and distribute water. If we were able to build new infrastructure it would
allow us to be safer, more efficient, and conserve more water.

Graphic created by Korbin Bauer

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We also recommend that all of the legal agreements concerning water with other states and/or
Mexico be revisited because similarly to the infrastructure that controls the water they are
outdated and most have not been revised in 20+ years when the state of water in New Mexico
was in a completely different situation. This would allow all people involved to have the best
possible outcome as far as the distribution and use of water goes.

» Conclusion
The current water crisis in New Mexico has its roots dug deep into our state. There are many
issues that are being caused by this crisis, some more pressing than others, but left unchecked;
this crisis can cause serious problems for the state down the line. The people and the state
government need to step up and be the instruments of change that are needed to help avert and
revert this crisis. If the people and government band together under the goal of saving this state’s
water, it is easily possible to mend the water crisis and get New Mexico back to a state of
abundance that it once was at. All it takes it time, education, and revision and we can get back on
track to being the prosperous and abundant state that we once were. If not for our generation,
then for our kids and their kids alike. We can still save this state and ensure a better future for the
next generations.

This formal report was written to research and bring attention to the water crisis this state faces.
By analyzing the conditions that led to this state, the status, and the outlook to help mend the
problem, we were able to develop and execute a research plan that allowed us to display the
necessary info that a person interested in this topic would need. As we look to the future of this
state, we wish to see a future in which impending water scarcity is not a problem. We wish to see
a state in which the price of water does not deter people from moving to the state. Most
importantly, we want to see a healthy and prosperous state.

As we wrap up this report, we would like to take the time to thank the readers who took the time
to look at this piece we wrote. Below are some of the more general recommendations we made
for citizens and government alike. These recommendations are building blocks to expand upon to
develop a system to renew, save, and retain water in New Mexico. If you or anyone you know
would like to reach out to us, please feel free to email us at kbauer1@unm.edu,
pmcmillan@unm.edu, or lashby99@unm.edu. Again, we thank you for taking the time to read
this article and we hope that it will inspire you, and many others, to be the agents of change that
New Mexico needs.

» Recommendations
Government Recommendations
Re-analyze New Mexico water compacts:

New Mexico has over 10 different inter and intrastate water compacts that divide up the water
usage rights of the vast amount of water sources in the southwest. However, many of these
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compacts do not rule in New Mexico’s favor. We recommend that the government take the time
to review some of these compacts, considering some of them expire within the next few years. If
the government renegotiated in favor of the state, we could not only bring in more water; we
could also keep more of our water. This would aid in the storing of water so that, should we need
to, we could draw from a much larger store or backup water than we do now.

Re-evaluate the water distribution infrastructure in the state:

The government direly needs to re-evaluate the water distribution rights of the state. Over the
past 2-3 decades, the farmers of the state have become very wasteful with their water and overly
follow the “use it or lose it” ideal. We recommend the government of New Mexico should
educate farmers about the conservation of water and help them implement new practices and
technologies. If we can begin to conserve water and help implement these new practices and
technologies it will benefit everyone in the long run. The state should begin to invest in new
infrastructure to begin to help doing this as most of it was made in much different environmental
conditions than we are in right now and if they are redone, we can put conservation at the
forefront to help us through during drier times like this

Citizen Recommendations
Become more conscious of water usage and waste:

The citizens of New Mexico have become very lackadaisical when it comes to being conscious
about the water, they use daily. We recommend the people of this state need to be more
conscious of their water usage if we wish to heal this state's water shortage. The introduction of
new low flow appliances and utilities into the common household can not only save the citizens
money, but it can also save the state water. People also need to practice water consciousness
when using common items such as clothes washers, evaporation coolers, and other items that use
water. By taking the time to become educated in numerous small ways, you can reduce water
usage. These small little steps add up to the grand scheme of things. If everyone in the state takes
the time to do these things, we can all help New Mexico save more water.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:

As New Mexicans, we have become very lazy when it comes to the three “R’s” of conservation.
We recommend that citizens start to become more aware of their daily actions pertaining to these
three words. As citizens, it is our duty to be responsible for the things we use daily. People have
started to become less keen on reusing certain items that can certainly be used more than once.
We also have started to be less meticulous when it comes to differentiating between genuine
trash and recyclables. The efforts to reduce the use of things such as plastic bottles and other
items that just fill landfills have also caused problems. These three points lead to two problems,
pollution, and landfill buildup. These two factors lead to reduced water runoff and dirtier water.
This limits the amount of available water for New Mexicans. If the people heed this
recommendation and become more conscious of their reducing, reusing, and recycling, we can
take steps to heal the water crisis.
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» Glossary
Infrastructure: noun: “the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g.,
buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.”
(“Infrastructure – Mahuma Group”)

Water Crisis: noun: “a situation where the available potable, unpolluted water within a region is
less than that region's demand.” (“Water scarcity - ScienceDaily”)

Water Compacts: noun: “allocates water rights to particular bodies of water to the party states.”
(“Water Compacts – Libraryguides")

Aquifers: noun: “a body of permeable rock which can contain or transmit groundwater.”
(“AQUIFER | Meaning & Definition for UK English | Lexico.com”)

Agriculture: noun: “the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the
growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.” (“Home
[agriculture-education.weebly.com]”)

» References
Library Sources
Ahn, S., & Sheng, Z. (2020, November 22). Assessment of Water Availability and Scarcity Based on
Hydrologic Components in an Irrigated Agricultural Watershed Using SWAT. Wiley Online
Library. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1752-
1688.12888.

Flemming, W. M., & Hall, G. E. (n.d.). Water Conservation Incentives for New Mexico: Policy and
Legislative Alternatives. Redirecting... Retrieved December 2, 2021, from
http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals%2Fnarj40&div=11.

Outside Sources
Water use & conservation. Water Use and Conservation - NM Office of the State Engineer. (n.d.).
Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://www.ose.state.nm.us/WUC/wuc_homeOwners.php.

Ritchie, A. (n.d.). Changes in Groundwater Levels in the Albuquerque Metropolitan Area. Changes in
groundwater levels in the Albuquerque Metropolitan Area. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nm-water/science/changes-groundwater-levels-albuquerque-
metropolitan-area?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects.
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Wheat, E. (2015, March 30). Groundwater challenges of the Lower Rio Grande: A case study of legal
issues in Texas and New Mexico. MDPI. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/4/2/172/htm.

Group Member Name Group Member Job

Parker • Results Summary and Discussion writing
• Methodology
• Elephant Butte original graphic
• Satellite View graphic
• Acreage withdrawal graphic
Lenny • Results Summary and Discussion writing
• Table of contents
• Aided in methodology writing
Korbin • Introduction
• Abstract
• Conclusion
• Recommendations
• Glossary
• References
• Average water needed original graphic
• Flow chart original graphic
All members collectively worked on the Title page, design or the document, and research.