MEASURING GROUNDWATER LEVELS IN THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT: LESSONS LEARNED FROM MONITORING NEW MEXICO’S AQUIFERS

The Aquifer Mapping Program (AMP) is the hydrogeology program within the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR), a research division of New Mexico Tech, which serves as the state geologic survey and is a non-regulatory agency. The AMP conducts regional and statewide studies on hydrogeology, depth to water, groundwater flow directions, recharge processes, and water quality characterizations, as well as the development of three-dimensional maps of the state’s major groundwater aquifers.

Stemming from our relationships with both public and private well owners who have provided access to their wells for various hydrogeologic research conducted by the AMP, we were able to establish a statewide groundwater monitoring network. Starting in 2016, the AMP launched the Healy Collaborative Groundwater-level Monitoring Network through philanthropic support from the Healy Foundation. This growing groundwater monitoring network currently includes 111 wells that are manually measured once per year and 97 wells equipped with continuous monitoring instruments (non-vented pressure transducers and acoustic measurements). Additionally, data from another 306 wells are shared with us by data providers, including mutual domestics, counties, homeowners’ associations, and city organizations. The purpose of our monitoring program is to provide accurate data to New Mexico residents and state and local government agencies so they can use long-term trends in groundwater levels to guide decision-making and policy. The network has helped identify regions with troubling groundwater declines and drawn well owners attention to conditions within their aquifer.

Through support provided by the USGS, the NMBGMR has been an active member of the National Groundwater Monitoring Network (NGWMN). The NGWMN is designed to monitor the groundwater in some of the nation’s largest and most productive aquifers. The NMBGMR provides data for 33 active sites in Principle aquifers throughout New Mexico via an API that allows the NGWMN to query the database and retrieve lithology, well construction, and water level data.