New Report on Groundwater Details Data Gaps, Opportunities to Protect Critical Water Supply in New Mexico

(SANTA FE, N.M. – January 14, 2026) As the water crisis in New Mexico deepens, a new report released today by the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance details significant data gaps, challenges and opportunities to protect the state's declining groundwater supply. The report can be downloaded here and a document with groundwater management frameworks from other Western states can be downloaded here. 

The New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report comes as groundwater levels plunge to historically low levels as they remain threatened by challenges like drought, climate change, water-hungry data centers and PFAS contamination. The report warns that without a proactive strategy for sustaining groundwater, more communities will face aquifer depletion, water quality degradation, and service disruptions.

The report builds off of recommendations made by the Governor’s New Mexico Water & Policy Task Force and the state’s 50-Year Water Action Plan, which warns that New Mexico will have 25% less water by 2050. Groundwater provides more than half the state’s total water supply, and 81% of public water systems in New Mexico rely on groundwater to provide drinking water for their communities.  

The New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report takes a deeper drive into New Mexico’s groundwater history and current challenges by detailing data gaps, water use by category, and policy and administrative structures. It also highlights where New Mexico leaders are already deploying successful groundwater management strategies while offering case studies from other western states. 

The report concludes with specific recommendations for policymakers to advance proactive, long-term groundwater solutions, including: 

• Science, Data and Modeling: As part of a multiyear effort, accelerate and sustain aquifer mapping, monitoring, and metering by filling the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources's budget request of $22 million in Fiscal Year 2027. This funding would support aquifer characterization studies to provide essential basin level information — such as quantity and quality of groundwater resources — and address a funding gap for the Water Data Act to help state agencies share, integrate and manage water data better using 21st century technologies.
• State Policy Reform: Develop a statewide groundwater management framework that establishes basin management goals informed by data, science, historical and cultural traditions, and community-driven solutions.
• Funding: Allocate state funding to provide support for locally driven groundwater management and provide legal avenues for local groundwater authorities to generate funds to support operations.
• Incentive-based Tools: Explore and provide support for locally relevant incentive-based tools such as water banks, rotational conservation or voluntary fallowing.
• Local and Tribal Engagement: Create a pathway for meaningful local and Tribal involvement in groundwater management and ensure representation of all interests in planning and decision-making. Build upon New Mexico specific strategies, such as the Ogallala Land & Water Conservancy and Pecos Valley Artesian Conservation District, for a community-driven framework based on community engagement.

“This report serves as a call to action to protect New Mexico’s groundwater before it’s too late,” said Gretel Follingstad, Ph.D., Senior Manager, climate resilient water systems, at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). “New Mexicans know we are in a water crisis, but groundwater is often out of sight, poorly understood, and inconsistently governed — especially in rural areas and small systems. We hope this report will be a launching point to elevate the urgency of groundwater declines and spark collaboration to develop a more long-term, well-funded and proactive statewide strategy to secure our water future.” 

A key component of the New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report details significant gaps in groundwater data, reinforcing the need for more groundwater mapping, monitoring and metering tools to provide local water managers the information they need to make long-term management decisions and ensure groundwater is not overused. For example, less than half of all New Mexico’s groundwater withdrawals are metered today. 

“Policymakers understand that we need sound science, data and modeling to better manage our groundwater resources and we’re ready to supply it,” said Stacy Timmons, Associate Director, Hydrogeology Programs at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. “Building on the initial funding provided by the Legislature last session, we’re prepared to execute a long-term strategy that will close our water data gaps and modernize our antiquated systems using 21st century technology.” 

Using available data, the report warns that groundwater declines are reaching crisis levels that threaten water supplies for agricultural and rural communities, including in the High Plains (Ogallala) aquifer near Clovis and Portales, the Mimbres Basin near Deming, and the Estancia Basin. Other basins reaching dangerously low levels are the Albuquerque Basin and the Placitas and East Mountains areas.  

The New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report also highlights positive case studies from New Mexico water leaders who are deploying new, successful groundwater management strategies for areas like the Pecos River Valley in Chaves and Eddy Counties, the Ogallala Aquifer in Curry County, the Lower Rio Grande Groundwater Conservation program in southern New Mexico, and through conservation efforts by the Cañada de Los Alamos Mutual Domestic Water Association in Santa Fe County. 

“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” said Aron Balok, superintendent of the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District. “Many of our local communities already have the experience, knowledge and determination needed to protect our groundwater. The state should look to these communities and figure out how to replicate what we know is already working.”

“Time is not on our side. We must put forth a more comprehensive groundwater management statewide, building on the work we’re doing in eastern New Mexico to protect the Ogallala Aquifer,” said Dr. Ladona Clayton, executive director of the Ogallala Land & Water Conservancy. “Our voluntary, market-based model is proving the concept that we can conserve agriculture land and aquifer levels at the same time.” 

The New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report was co-authored by the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance, which is composed of:

• Aron Balok, Superintendent, Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District
• Ladona Clayton, Ph.D., Executive Director, Ogallala Land & Water Conservancy
• Gretel Follingstad, Ph.D., Senior Manager, Climate Resilient Water Systems — Environmental Defense Fund
• Maurice Hall, Ph.D., Senior Advisor, Climate Resilient Water Systems — Environmental Defense Fund
• Phil King, Ph.D., Principal Engineer, King Engineering & Associates Inc.; Special Technical Advisor to OSE/ISC
• Ramón Lucero, Regional Field Manager, Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC)
• Patrick McCarthy, Senior Water Policy Officer, Thornburg Foundation
• Adrian Oglesby, J.D., Director, Utton Transboundary Resources Center (UNM)

Advisory members: 

• Lisa Henne, General Counsel, Interstate Stream Commission / Office of the State Engineer
• Michelle Hunter, Deputy Director, NM Interstate Stream Commission / Office of the State Engineer
• Phoebe Suina, Owner, Project Manager, and Hydrologist, High Water Mark, LLC
• Stacy Timmons, Associate Director, Hydrogeology Programs, New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources
• Hannah Riseley‑White, Director, NM Interstate Stream Commission / Office of the State Engineer
• Katie Zemlick, Chief, Hydrology Bureau, Office of the State Engineer

For more information about the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance, visit  http://www.nmgroundwateralliance.org