Water users along the Middle Rio Grande have made major strides in responding to our water deficit, experts said during a meeting Saturday, Oct. 24, in Albuquerque. But there is much more to be done if we are to avoid long-term problems because of our continued unsustainable water use, they said.

"We need to do more," said Steve Hansen, a staff member of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and one of the founders of the Middle Rio Grande Water Assembly.

Members of the Assembly and local water experts gathered for the group's annual meeting at the University of New Mexico and reviewed progress since the 2004 completion of the Middle Rio Grande Water Plan.

According to the plan, the farms and cities of the great Albuquerque metro area use about 20 percent more water per year than is sustainably provided by natural rainfall and the Rio Grande. In addition, the region's major population growth during the last quarter of the 20th century came during an unusually wet period, said Kevin Bean, the Water Assembly's president.

"That's going to have consequences," Bean said.

A number of positive steps have been taken in recent years to reduce water consumption and deal with long-term shortages, experts speaking at the meeting said.

The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority has spent $2.2 million in incentive payments in return for residents tearing out 5.8 million square-feet of lawn in the metro area, said Mark Sanchez, the water utility's director.

Utility rebates have helped fund the replacement of 70,000 old high-water toilets and 20,000 washing machines, he said.

Per capita water use has dropped from 250 gallons per day in the Water Utility's territory to the current 161 gallons per day, Sanchez said.

But long-term challenges remain, experts said, because we are still using more water than nature provides, making up the difference by mining nonrenewable groundwater.

Hansen pointed to the problems of the Rio Grande silvery minnow and other endangered species as "canaries in a coal mine," warnings of problems to come.

"If they can't live here, how much longer can we live here?" he asked.