• Annual Operating Plan for Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs to be discussed.  The Bureau of Reclamation will hold two public meetings to discuss its Annual Operating Plan for Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs for 1999. On May 18, a public meeting will be held at the NM Dept. of Agriculture located on the NMSU campus at the corner of Espina St. and Gregg St., Las Cruces. On May 19, another public meeting will held at UTEP, Geological Science building, room 123. Both meetings will begin at 7:00 pm.As of April 30, 1999, storage in Elephant Butte Reservoir was 1,592,200 acre-feet, and Caballo Reservoir was at 58,260 acre-feet. Due to the poor snow-pack in the mountains of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, dry conditions, high winds, and low runoff forecasts for this spring, Reclamation does not anticipate filling either reservoir this year. Reclamation will present information concerning storage and lake levels for both reservoirs for 1999 based on present climatic conditions. It also will present a slide show illustrating the history of the Rio Grande Project, including Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs. For further information, contact Filiberto Cortez or Wayne Treers at 915-534-6321.

• Ground-water systems book publishedWilliam Stone, long-time New Mexico hydrogeologist, has written a book entitled  Hydrogeology in Practice A Guide to Characterizing Ground-Water Systems.The book is designed to fill the gap between the theoretical world of traditional college courses and the applied world of real-life water studies, with many New Mexico examples and case histories.This paperback book is available from Prentice Hall Engineering, Science & Math. For more details on the book and to order, check out http://www.prenhall.com/books/.
• U.S.-Mexico border region web SiteBorder EcoWeb (BEW) is a newly created web page designed to facilitate community access to information about the environment of the U.S.-Mexican border region. BEW’s two main components are its Inventory of Web Pages and Directory of Organizations.The Inventory page provides brief descriptions and links to various environmental data sets available on the Internet. The Directory of Organizations contains contact information and project descriptions for government agencies, and other groups involved with the border environment.You may view the website at  http://www.borderecoweb.sdsu.edu
• Albuquerque releases water conservation reportThe City of Albuquerque has released the Water Conservation Program’s Annual Report for 1998. The report indicates that while progress was made last year in many areas, the program did not achieve its goal of reducing usage another 3% during 1998.Instead, the overall percent reduction toward the 30% goal remained essentially level at 18%. While 18% is admirable for the four years since the program was initiated, the program will refocus the community’s awareness on this issue.To meet this need, Jean Witherspoon, Water Conservation Officer, indicates that the program will work with the media to include irrigation and conservation messages in weather reporting on an ongoing basis. It is hoped this will help revitalize the community’s commitment to conservation. For copies of the report, contact Jean Witherspoon at 505-768-3655 or Relay NM 1-800-659-8331. Copies of the program’s newest water resource video, “Tapping the Legacy”, are available by calling 768-3655. For more details on Albuquerque’s water conservation program, visit  http://www.cabq.gov/resources/

• Upcoming meetingsNational Ground Water Association, Principles of Ground Water – Flow, Transport and Remediation – June 14-16, Portland, ME
  American Water Resources Association, Science into Policy: Water in the Public Realm and Wildland Hydrology – June 30-July 2, Bozeman, MT
  National Water Resources Association, Western Water Seminar – August 11-14, Durango, CO
  7th Annual New Mexico Water Law Conference – August 26-27, Santa Fe
  New Mexico Geological Society 50th Annual Fall Field Conference – September 22-25, 1999, Albuquerque
  NM Environmental Health Conference – October 25-27, Albuquerque
  New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute’s 44th Annual Water Conference – December 2-3, Santa Fe