Hydrologic Monitoring and Trends

Data from monitoring sites at Rincon Valley and Mesilla Valley.

On August 5, 2015, about three million gallons of water and sediment were released from the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado, into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River. The New Mexico Environment Department, among other State, Tribal, and local entities in CO, NM, and UT, is concerned that metals associated with the water and sediment released from the Gold King Mine could have...

In the past, groundwater pumped from the Santa Fe Group aquifer system was the principal source of water for the Albuquerque metropolitan area of central New Mexico. The large quantity of groundwater pumping relative to recharge resulted in substantial drawdown in the aquifer system. In 2008 the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority began diverting water from the San Juan-Chama...

Flash flooding can be a destructive and life-threatening response of watersheds to intense rainfall events, particularly in sparsely­ vegetated, or burned watersheds. Studies have been conducted to estimate the magnitude of hydrologic responses of burned watersheds to rainfall events, however the time that it takes a flood to travel through a burned watershed and reach a critical or populated area...

Historic and current groundwater data may be used to help guide water management in New Mexico. Groundwater levels measured by the USGS provide the public, State, and Federal agencies, and cooperators with reliable and impartial information.

Streamflow data are needed at many sites on a daily basis for forecasting flow extremes, making water-management decisions, assessing current water availability, managing water quality, and meeting legal requirements. These activities require streamflow information at a given location for a specified time. These needs generally are best satisfied by operating a station to produce a continuous...

Rio Grande Compact and Pecos River Commission

In 1986, the USGS, in cooperation with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer and the City of Santa Fe, drilled two well nests (Santa Fe nest 1 and Santa Fe nest 2) to monitor hydraulic head in the local aquifer systems. In 1987, three more well nests (Santa Fe nests 3, 4, and 5) were installed in the Buckman well field. In 1997, the City of Santa Fe partnered with the USGS to more closely...

In 1996, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer (OSE), began a drilling program to install specialized monitoring wells in the Middle Rio Grande Basin and the Espanola Basin.

The upper Rio Hondo Basin occupies a drainage area of 585 square miles in south-central New Mexico and comprises three general hydrogeologic terranes: the higher elevation “Mountain Block,” the “Central Basin” piedmont area, and the lower elevation “Hondo Slope.”

Lee Acres Landfill is 40 acres of public land in San Juan County southeast of Farmington, New Mexico. On May 1, 1962 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) leased land to San Juan County to operate a county landfill. The landfill consists of an undetermined number of solid waste trenches and unlined waste lagoons.

The New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA) is responsible for managing pesticide usage in New Mexico. The NMED contracted with the New Mexico USGS to assist in setting up a sampling plan to monitor pesticides in selected surface water sites throughout the state. The Canadian River Municipal Water Authority (CRMWA) wishes to manage the salinity levels on the Canadian River as it flows into...