Fact Sheet 2004-3081
U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2004-3081, 4 pages (Published 2004)
By Laura M. Bexfield and Douglas P. McAda
Prepared in Cooperation with the City of Albuquerque Public Works Department
This report is available online as a citation and a group of images at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
In the Middle Rio Grande Basin (MRGB) of central New Mexico, ground water currently (2004) is the almost exclusive source of water for municipal and domestic supply to the approximately 690,000 residents of the basin (Bartolino and Cole, 2002). The largest user of ground water in the basin is the City of Albuquerque (COA), which during the 1990's pumped nearly three-quarters of the estimated 150,000 to 160,000 acre-feet of ground water withdrawn annually from the basin (McAda and Barroll, 2002; City of Albuquerque files). From 2000 to 2003, the COA withdrew 107,000 to 114,000 acre-feet of ground water annually from about 90 deep supply wells that obtain water from sediments of the Santa Fe Group aquifer system.
Because of large withdrawals of ground water from the MRGB, annual outflow from the aquifer system is greater than annual inflow to the aquifer system, thus reducing the quantity of water stored within the aquifer (Bartolino and Cole, 2002; McAda and Barroll, 2002). This reduction of water in storage is reflected in water-level declines that have exceeded 120 feet in parts of the aquifer system (Bexfield and Anderholm, 2002). Large water-level declines can result in a number of regional-scale problems, including increased drilling and pumping costs. subsidence (sinking) of the land surface, deterioration of the quality of available ground water. and decreased surface-water availability. Water-level declines have already resulted in decreased flow in the Rio Grande (McAda and Barroll, 2002).
Recognition by the COA that continued use of ground water to meet all municipal water demand is not sustainable and may result in regional-scale problems led the city to devise a new water-resources strategy in the middle to late 1990's. In addition to water-recycling projects and encouragement of conservation by users, the water-resources strategy calls for the direct use of surface water to meet most municipal demand. The COA owns rights to about 71,000 acre-feet of water in the Rio Grande (City of Albuquerque, 2003), including water that is diverted from streams in the Colorado River Basin to the Rio Grande Basin through the San Juan-Chama Transmountain Diversion Project. The COA plans to begin diverting water directly from the Rio Grande for municipal supply in 2006. Limited ground-water withdrawals will be used to supplement water supplies primarily during periods of large demand or drought.
When the COA begins using surface water instead of ground water as its primary source of municipal supply, substantial changes will occur in the river-aquifer system of the MRGB. In particular, water levels in the aquifer system will change, as will the quantity of water stored in the aquifer system and the quantity of water that leaks into the aquifer system from the river system. Estimates of these changes are impor- tant to the design of long-tenn water-manage- ment strategies that will benefit the regional hydrologic system and water users. Ground- water-flow models are particularly useful for making these kinds of estimates, as demon- strated in previous simulations by Bexfield and McAda (2003) of the effects of ground-water management scenarios on the river-aquifer system of the MRGB. This report describes the results of a model simulation perfonned by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the COA Public Works Department, to investigate the effects of projected ground- water withdrawals by the COA for 2004-40 on the river-aquifer system, assuming future water use per person is reduced.
Introduction
Ground-Water-Flow Models
The McAda and Sarroll Model
Design of the Model Simulation
Simulated Effects on Water Levels
Simulated Effects on the Water Budget
Summary
References
This report is available online as a citation and a group of images at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Laura M. Bexfield and Douglas P. McAda, 2004, Simulated Effects of Projected Ground-Water Withdrawals by the City of Albuquerque, 2004-40, for Reduced Water Use Per Person: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2004–3081
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