Proceedings of the Annual New Mexico Water Conference (53rd): Surface Water Opportunities in New Mexico. Held October 20-22, 2008, in Albuquerque, New Mexico

摘要

Surface water opportunities in New Mexico is the theme of the 53rd Annual New Mexico Water Conference this year. NMWRRI started these talks about 10 years ago, not really knowing where we were headed or where our water resources management strategy would take us. We started with five paragraphs back in 1997, when the city council adopted about a 220-word statement that instructed us to start projects like the diversion of San Juan-Chama water. It's been 10 years since that time and weve been blessed with people like Karl Wood and Bobby Creel from the Water Resources Research Institute. The next step is to bring the Drinking Water Project online. The impetus for this project was a 1993 report that redefined our understanding of water resources in the Middle Rio Grande, but it actually started many years before that. We have been working with the USGS for more than 10 years and have spent several million dollars studying the water resources of Middle Rio Grande. One of these studies was to determine the extent at which ground water pumping would cause land surface subsidence. Water reuse and recycling is a key issue in our future, much like aquifer storage and recovery, not only today but 40 years from now by reducing use can still store San Juan Chama. Desalination also is a potential new source. There are a lot of projects on the west side, and the big question is: Are desalination projects connected to the local aquifer. We need to characterize the brackish water sources in the Middle Rio Grande and sources outside the Middle Rio Grande. The New Mexico State Engineer has no jurisdiction over some wells; the only way to resolve a potential infraction on our water rights is to go to District Court, which is a problem because the judicial system does not always have the technical expertise needed, and this can lead to a battle of 'dueling experts'. For the large scale ASR project, we will be constructing infiltration ponds on the 90-acre water treatment plant site and then applying the water and allowing the water to infiltrate into the aquifer. If we are able to store 10,000; 20,000; or even 30,000 acre-ft per year, and monitor it, such as how fast it reaches the aquifer, which is really the next step in our project, then it will help us understand the possibilities and opportunities for future use of that water.