A Dynamic Statewide Water Budget for New Mexico: Phase III–Future Scenario Implementation

Published Date:
January 2019

Authors:
Ken Peterson, Austin Hanson, Jesse Roach, Joshua Randall, Bruce Thomson

Abstract:
With the support of New Mexico’s Governor, the New Mexico Legislature, and New Mexico EPSCoR, funds were provided to the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI) for fiscal years (FYs) 15, 16, and 17 to support a legislative initiative that includes a Statewide Water Assessment. The Statewide Water Assessment is intended to complement existing state agency water resource assessments. It will provide new, dynamic spatially representative assessments of water budgets for the entire state of New Mexico. Projects included in the Statewide Water Assessment will introduce new technologies that expand existing studies and are applicable statewide. Of particular interest are water budget components for which state agencies require improved information such as evapotranspiration (ET), crop consumptive use, groundwater recharge, and streamflow. The NM WRRI is coordinating different components of the Statewide Water Assessment effort with work being done by researchers from New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, University of New Mexico, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Petroleum Recovery Research Center, Office of the State Engineer (OSE), Sandia National Laboratories, and Tetra Tech, Inc.

The New Mexico Dynamic Statewide Water Budget (NMDSWB) model is a tool that brings together the collaborative efforts of the Statewide Water Assessment. The NMDSWB can be used to account for the origin and fate of New Mexico’s water resources through time, providing a more in-depth understanding of the temporal and spatial distribution of water in the state. This information can help policy makers and water managers make more informed and effective decisions about managing this critical and scarce resource.

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