In search of the big picture

In collaboration with New Mexico Tech, the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources is searching for residents along the Rio Grande, San Acacia to Fort Craig to participate in a groundwater and surface water study.

“We started the project a few months ago, and we are working on it for the next three years. It’s a great opportunity for folks to learn a bit about the groundwater in this region, and if they have a well, to get info on how much water may be in their well periodically over our study, “Stacy Timmons, Associate Director, Hydrogeology Programs, said.

Timmons said the measurements could reveal trends and help well owners assess groundwater depth, availability and seasonal and long-term changes.

Although the data collected would be public because the project is state-funded, personal information will remain confidential. The goal is to get a bigger picture of the area’s water trends.

“We have a lot of wells all over the state that we’re tracking to try to keep an eye on this, for private landowners, and also it just helps us map out what the broader aquifer is, not necessarily what individuals are doing,” Timmons said.

Daniel Cadol, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, said the area has a unique history.

“In the 1950s, New Mexico was not meeting our delivery requirements to Texas. We were in a lot of debt on the Rio Grande compact but the solution that Reclamation, MRCD and the state engineer, came up with, was basically a long straight ditch that parallels the river,” Cadol said, “When the flow is low, they could take the whole river, dump it in that ditch, and efficiently get it out to Elephant Butte and bypass the whole riparian ecosystem in this reach of the river.”

The ditch parallel to the Rio Grande is called the Low Flow Conveyance Channel (LFCC). Cadol explained that, from an ecological standpoint, there used to be several endemic fish species; however, only the silvery minnow has survived. Since the LFCC was excavated lower than the river level, it has functioned as a drainage system, leading to unusual interactions between surface water and groundwater in the valley.

“All the groundwater drains into it, and so it keeps the water table lower . And from a farming perspective, that’s not a bad thing, that’s really good. You don’t want your roots to be drowning. And so that helped in certain areas, but it also took water that had been sitting in the valley, drained it out and sent it on down Elephant Butte and on to Texas,” Cadol said.

Cadol is supervising two NMT Master’s students who are involved in the project. One is focused on measuring the flow of the Low Flow Conveyance Channel by regular testing at different points; the other is using satellite images, and looking at how much water evaporates and transpires from the vegetation.

For the project, they are looking for at least 100 existing wells between San Acacia and Fort Craig to participate, making community involvement crucial for this effort.

For more information about participating in the study please contact Laila Sturgis, Aquifer Mapping Program Manager for the NM Bureau of Geology, at Laila.Sturgis@nmt.edu or (575) 835-5327.