{"id":13954,"date":"2026-01-15T17:27:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/report-says-new-mexico-faces-looming-groundwater-crisis-from-climate-change-overuse\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:42:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:42:42","slug":"report-says-new-mexico-faces-looming-groundwater-crisis-from-climate-change-overuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/report-says-new-mexico-faces-looming-groundwater-crisis-from-climate-change-overuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Report says New Mexico faces \u2018looming groundwater crisis\u2019 from climate change, overuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Groundwater
Groundwater wells fill an irrigation ditch for pecan orchards outside of Rincon, New Mexico. Diana Cervantes for Source NM<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Even as water advocates praised lawmakers\u2019 record funding proposals for aquifer mapping and other water priorities in the upcoming 2026 legislative session, a report urged the Roundhouse to do more to protect the state\u2019s declining groundwater.<\/p>\n

The New Mexico Groundwater Alliance, made up of water policy experts from around the state, released the 80-page report Wednesday. Groundwater accounts for more than half of New Mexico\u2019s total supplies and about 80% of the state\u2019s drinking water. The report builds on previous findings that the already arid state faces a shrinking supply, estimated to be 25% to 30% by 2050, from hotter temperatures and continued pumping.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Mexico is at the front lines of climate change impacts, which threatens water resource availability,\u201d the report stated. \u201cGroundwater management is paramount to the resilience of water supplies, communities, and economies for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last several decades, the fastest-dropping groundwater levels include important agricultural and residential basins: the Ogallala aquifer near Clovis and Portales; the Mimbres Basin near Deming; Estancia Basin in east-central New Mexico; the Albuquerque Basin; and the Placitas and East Mountains areas.<\/p>\n

In order to address the threat of a \u201clooming groundwater crisis,\u201d the report requests that lawmakers and the state government map aquifers; better monitor pumping; develop technical assistance for local management; and ensure groundwater is included and understood in regional planning efforts. The report also includes for consideration groundwater management policies from around the state and neighboring Western states.<\/p>\n

The policies don\u2019t require New Mexico \u201cto reinvent the wheel,\u201d coauthor Aron Balok, superintendent of the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District, said in a statement. \u201cMany of our local communities already have the experience, knowledge and determination needed to protect our groundwater,\u201d Balok said. \u201cThe state should look to these communities and figure out how to replicate what we know is already working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Already, lawmakers have proposed record funding for water priorities, including more than $22 million to map the state\u2019s aquifers, more than double 2025\u2019s funding of just over $7 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolicymakers understand that we need sound science, data and modeling to better manage our groundwater resources and we\u2019re ready to supply it,\u201d said Stacy Timmons, associate director of Hydrogeology Programs at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, in a statement. \u201cBuilding on the initial funding provided by the Legislature last session, we\u2019re prepared to execute a long-term strategy that will close our water data gaps and modernize our antiquated systems using 21st century technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Legislature proposed $15 million for the River Stewardship Program for the environment department for rivers, streams and wetlands projects; and $15.5 million for the Strategic Water Reserve after changes to the program in 2025 to allow additional uses for banking water in New Mexico rivers.<\/p>\n

Water getting this much funding and attention at the Roundhouse is \u201crare but welcome,\u201d Tricia Snyder, the rivers and water director for New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, told Source NM in a call.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the water crisis with the naked eye,\u201d she said, referring to the summer drying of Rio Grande and continued snow drought. \u201cThere\u2019s challenges there that we have never experienced before, it\u2019s becoming self-evident that we really have to figure out solutions because it only gets harder from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source NM is an independent, nonprofit news organization that shines a light on governments, policies and public officials.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts recommend groundwater included, understood in regional planning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[402,28,138,29,1518,295],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-drought","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico","tag-newsletter","tag-rivers","tag-water"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19248,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13954\/revisions\/19248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13954"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}