Albuquerque’s Water
Posted on | June 1, 2007 | 1 Comment
Christie Chisholm has a great overview in this week’s Alibi of the city of Albuquerque’s San Juan-Chama water project. What I liked is the way she captured the complexity of this project. No easy answers, no free lunch when it comes to New Mexico water:
Even though the city wants to drastically cut pumping from the aquifer, the effects on the river will still be seen for many years. Also, as less groundwater is pumped, less water from the aquifer will be discharged to the river as municipal effluent, which is currently treated and sent downstream to irrigators like Robert. Over time, reduced pumping could help replenish the aquifer, but it will mean less water in the river for downstream users.
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June 14th, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
[...] Additionally, prior to the study the Rio Grande and the aquifer were thought to be directly linked. The city purchased San Juan-Chama water in 1963 with the intention of using the river water as an offset to Albuquerque’s groundwater pumping. The San Juan-Chama water was diverted to the Rio Grande, and the theory went that the extra water from the river would seep back into the aquifer, replenishing much of what the city pumped out every year. The Hawley and Haase study, however, showed the aquifer-river connection was somewhat weak. Although the river still replenished the aquifer, it did so at a much slower rate than previously thought. Hat tip to John for the link [...]