Skip Links

USGS - science for a changing world

Data Series 873

Prepared in cooperation with the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority

Water-Level Data for the Albuquerque Basin and Adjacent Areas, Central New Mexico, Period of Record Through September 30, 2013

By Joseph E. Beman

Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (6.95 MB)Abstract

The Albuquerque Basin, located in central New Mexico, is about 100 miles long and 25–40 miles wide. The basin is defined as the extent of consolidated and unconsolidated deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age that encompasses the structural Rio Grande Rift within the basin. Drinking-water supplies throughout the basin were obtained solely from groundwater resources until December 2008, when treatment and distribution of surface water from the Rio Grande began. A population increase of about 20 percent in the basin from 1990 to 2000 and a 22-percent increase from 2000 to 2010 resulted in an increased demand for water. An initial network of wells was established by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Albuquerque from April 1982 through September 1983 to monitor changes in groundwater levels throughout the basin. This network consisted of 6 wells with analog-to-digital recorders and 27 wells where water levels were measured monthly in 1983. Currently (2013), the network consists of 123 wells and piezometers. (A piezometer is a specialized well open to a specific depth in the aquifer, often of small diameter and nested with other piezometers open to different depths.) The USGS, in cooperation with the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, currently (2013) measures and reports water levels from the 123 wells and piezometers in the network; this report presents water-level data collected by USGS personnel at those 123 sites through water year 2013.

First posted September 3, 2014

For additional information contact:
Director, New Mexico Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
5338 Montgomery Boulevard NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109–1311
http://nm.water.usgs.gov/

Part or all of this report is presented in Portable Document Format (PDF). For best results viewing and printing PDF documents, it is recommended that you download the documents to your computer and open them with Adobe Reader. PDF documents opened from your browser may not display or print as intended. Download the latest version of Adobe Reader, free of charge. More information about viewing, downloading, and printing report files can be found here.


Suggested citation:

Beman, J.E., 2014, Water-level data for the Albuquerque Basin and adjacent areas, central New Mexico, period of record through September 30, 2013: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 873, 40 p., https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ds873.

ISSN 2327-0271 (print)

ISSN 2327-638X (online)



Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Water-Level Data

References Cited


Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

Take Pride in America logo USA.gov logo U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/ds/873/index.html
Page Contact Information: GS Pubs Web Contact
Page Last Modified: Monday, 28-Nov-2016 19:32:51 EST