Water Resource Management Commons^™

Characterizing And Assessing The Hydrological Connection Of Sawyer Fen To Nearby Bluewater Creek In The Zuni Mountains, New Mexico, Luke Collis

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Wetlands can hydrologically connect to nearby surface waters allowing for interaction with other landscape elements through spatial and temporal variation. The hydrologic connection of wetlands to surface waters is an important issue due to policies and regulations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) which emphasize the physical connection that wetlands have with nearby surface waters. The goal of this research was to quantify the hydrological connection of Sawyer Fen to a nearby Bluewater Creek in the Zuni Mountains, western New Mexico. Data were collected in the summer through the winter of 2019 at seven locations including Sawyer Fen, Bluewater Creek …

How Do Dairy Feedlot Size And Land Use Practices Affect Groundwater Quality Over Time? A Preliminary Study In New Mexico, Nancy J. Mcduffie

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Agricultural activities in general and dairy operations in particular, have been identified as a potentially significant source of nitrate contamination in groundwater. The late 1990s was a period of rapid growth for New Mexico’s dairy industry. The New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service reports that the industry grew from 105 producers and 80,000 cows statewide in 1990 to 175 producers and 310,000 cows in 2003, to 145 producers and 323,000 cows in 2015. New Mexico now ranks ninth in the nation in milk production by volume, fifth in the nation for cheese production, and has the largest number of …

The Relationships Between Benthic Macroinvertebrate And Local Water Quality And Physical Habitat Characteristics In The Rio Chama, New Mexico, Monika Hobbs

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Incorporating the process of adaptive management in rivers management can assist with mitigating impacts of altered streamflow and prevent loss of aquatic biodiversity. Streamflow regimes are important drivers of stream ecology and structuring adaptive management around benthic macroinvertebrates could be an efficient means to understand ecological responses to management of streamflow regime. Over the past decade, there has been interest in implementing adaptive management practices to managing stream flow in the Rio Chama below El Vado Dam in northern New Mexico. The goal of this research project is to improve understanding of environmental drivers shape the benthic macroinvertebrate communities in …

Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Of Navajo Nation Water Resources In The San Juan River Basin, Nm: Utilizing Traditional Navajo Ecological Knowledge, Kirena Elana Yanibaa Tsosie

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The Navajo Nation consists of 110 chapters, local government subdivisions, organized into five regional agencies. Over half of the Navajo Nation chapters have traditional names in the Navajo language that describe a local water source including springs, washes, rivers, ponds, and reservoirs. Therefore, traditional Navajo names consist of Traditional Navajo Ecological Knowledge (TNEK) and can assist in documenting water sources that can be further assessed for vulnerability and sensitivity to climate change. There are 52 Navajo Nation chapters located in the San Juan River Basin and 28 chapters have water related names. Water sources associated with place names will also …

Measuring Variability Of A Moderate Snowpack Across A Forest Stand Boundary In The Sandia Mountains, Adrian Marziliano

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Mountain snowpacks provide much of the water resources for the southwestern United States. Due to limited freshwater supply and mounting climate stressors, accurate water budget forecasts have become increasingly important. Many regions, such as the lower-elevation mountains found in central New Mexico, lack valuable snow data that could improve these forecasts. The purpose of this research project is to measure and analyze the variability of a moderate snowpack in this region to better understand the representativeness of snow depth distribution and more accurately estimate snow water equivalence (SWE). A survey site with a 1,200 square meter plot in the eastern …

The Role Of Regulatory Agencies In The Frequency And Occurrence Of Health-Based Violations At Public Water Systems In The United States, Rose Afandi

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was implemented in the United States (U.S.) in 1974 for the purpose of protecting consumers from water contaminants. The Federal government gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to delegate the responsibility of ensuring that States, Sovereign Nations and U.S. territories meet specific requirements upon being granted primacy to regulate all public water systems (PWSs) in their jurisdiction. An examination of seven years (2013-2019) of SDWA compliance data from all PWSs in the U.S. revealed trends within various categories of regulating agencies that could create disparities in how water systems are regulated. Analyses …

Examining Transmission Loss Availability For Basin Aquifer Recharge From Perennial Streams In The Chuska Mountains On The Navajo Nation, Griffin Nuzzo

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Stream transmission losses due to infiltration from semiarid, perennial streams are important processes that can help water managers and users quantify aquifer recharge. Transmission losses are streamflow reductions that are due to infiltration through the streambed, evapotranspiration, and losses to the floodplain or streambanks (Shanafield, et.al, 2014). Transmission losses from infiltration will always be greater than the amount recharged bacause streamflow hat infiltrates into the streambed can take a variety of pathways other that recharge. This study considers transmission losses in Whiskey Creek, a perennial stream on the Navajo Nation in the Chuska Mountains. The objectives of this study are …

Horton Complex Stormwater Analysis And Management Plan, Bradley D. Meyer

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Flooding, water quality degradation and erosion are some of the negative impacts created by poorly managed urban stormwater runoff. Managing runoff is an ongoing challenge for watershed managers because of the constantly changing landscape due to development and redevelopment. The Village of Ruidoso in South Central New Mexico is an example of an urban area that is taking an innovative and progressive approach to stormwater management. The focus of this professional project was to perform a stormwater analysis for the Village of Ruidoso, apply it to the Horton Complex – an old school complex that the Village acquired and wants …

Drinking Water Governance For Whom? An Institutional Analysis Of Rural Drinking Water Systems In New Mexico, Tucker Colvin

Geography ETDs

Rural community drinking water systems in New Mexico are facing many challenges, including a lack of personnel, deteriorating infrastructure, lack of funds, overly burdensome and confusing regulation, environmental concerns, and concerns over water rights. Governing agencies are creating vulnerability by making managers prioritize some issues and neglect others. Water systems designated a Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Associations are especially problematic because they are small and managed by volunteers but have as much regulatory burden as larger municipalities. I use the theory of institutional work to explain how an institution that was originally designed to help low-income and rural communities is …

Who Decides: Is Water Life Or Capital? Contesting Visions Of Western Water Management In The 21st Century, Ceorl

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

There is an ideological divide between the goal of universal access to clean water and the outcomes of how water regulations are implemented. John Fleck, author of Water is for Fighting Over: and Other Myths about Water in the West and Sivas, et al. in California Water Governance in the 21st Century present contesting prescriptions for Western water management. The ideologies advocated by Fleck and Sivas, et al. differ as to who enacts and profits from each and exemplify the divide between the goals of water regulations and how they are implemented. Fleck regards water as property and an economic …

Quantifying The Extent Of Wildfire Impacted Streams In The Western United States, Grady Ball

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Beginning in the mid-1980s, the number of fires and acres burned by wildfire in the United States has grown at an explosive rate. Several factors, anthropogenic and natural, have converged to create a new era of high frequency, high intensity fires, which is predicted to continue until at least mid-century. Investigations into wildfire impacts have largely focused on post-fire impacts on terrestrial systems, while effects on aquatic ecosystems have been underrepresented. The growing threat of fire to streams has accelerated the need for germane information regarding the spatial extent of fire impacts on watersheds and post-fire impacts to aquatic systems. …

Natural Salinization Of The Jemez River, New Mexico: An Insight From Trace Element Geochemistry, Jon K. Golla

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Jemez River, a tributary of the Rio Grande in north-central New Mexico, receives thermal water input from the geofluids of the Valles Caldera, an active, high-temperature, liquid-dominated geothermal system. We focus on a ∼50-km portion of the northern Jemez River. This research extends previous decadal work (Crossey et al., in prep., 2013) on major chemistry in the river by characterizing the response of 16 trace elements to geochemical contributions from geothermal waters (McCauley, Spence, Soda Dam, and Jemez Springs springs and San Ysidro mineral waters), an area with copious hydrothermal degassing (Hummingbird), and two major tributaries (Rio San Antonio …

Evaluating Future Reservoir Storage In The Rio Grande Using Normalized Climate Projections And A Water Balance Model, Nolan T. Townsend

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

We develop and implement new tools for assessing the future of surface water supplies in downstream reaches of the Rio Grande, for which Elephant Butte Reservoir is the major storage reservoir. First, a normalization procedure is developed to adjust natural Rio Grande streamflows simulated by dynamical models in downstream reaches. The normalization accounts for upstream anthropogenic impairments to flow that are not considered in the model, thereby yielding downstream flows closer to observed values and more appropriate for use in assessments of future flows in downstream reaches. The normalization is applied to assess the potential effects of climate change on …

Water Security And Wildfire In Municipal Source Watersheds Of The Western United States, Matthew V. Segura

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The goal of this study is to investigate water resource security for large metropolitan areas in the western United States and to identify cities that are at potential risk of water resource degradation due to wildfire. In this study, source watersheds for western cities are identified and ranked based on the potential resistance and resilience of their water supply to wildfire impacts. Next, the wildfire hazard potential of each of these catchments is determined and erosion potential estimates are used to infer how water quality will be impacted if the watersheds burn. The findings identify large populous cities that receive …

Inventory Of Restoration Needs Of National Forest Lands Of The Contiguous United States: An Assessment Using Watershed And Terrestrial Ecosystem Classification Tools, Kevin Carns

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Ecological restoration assists the recovery of degraded ecosystems by returning their structure, processes, and functions to within their natural range of variation, improving long term sustainability and resilience. The United States Forest Service has sought to increase the pace and scale of restoration treatments on lands that it manages in order to continue to provide important ecosystem services including timber production, fish and wildlife habitat, grazing, watershed protection, and recreation. The Agency developed two classification systems to identify restoration need on Forest Service managed lands, the Watershed Condition Classification (WCC) and the Terrestrial Condition Assessment (TCA). These two classification systems …

Considering Relationships Between Water Utilities’ Price Changes And Operating Data, Frejdyn Jarrett

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Do modern water utilities face a difficult operating paradox? Is encouraging water conservation could negatively affect the utilities’ abilities to maintain healthy operating ratios by driving down the utilities’ marginal revenues (from consumption) disproportionately relative to their costs (Environmental Finance Center, 2017). How do the financial circumstances of water utilities relate to price scheduling and rate changes? Do utilities’ rate increases result in reduced debt leverage? This research summarizes water utilities’ potable water operations and financial data in search of trends between user prices at 3 levels (6,000 gallons, 12,000 gallons, 18,000 gallons – per month), water utility’s total debts, …

Observed And Projected Snowmelt Runoff In The Upper Rio Grande In A Changing Climate, Nels R. Bjarke

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

As climate has warmed over the past half century, the strength of the covariance between interannual snowpack and streamflow anomalies in the Rio Grande headwaters has decreased. This change has caused an amplification of errors in seasonal streamflow forecasts using traditional statistical forecasting methods, based on the diminishing correlation between peak snow water equivalent (SWE) and subsequent snowmelt runoff. Therefore, at a time when water resources in south-western North America are becoming scarcer, water supply forecasters need to develop prediction schemes that account for the dynamic nature of the relationship between precipitation, temperature, snowpack and streamflow. We quantify temporal changes …

Save Money, Save Water; Developing A Risk Model For Leak Detection And Pipe Replacement Using Spatial Analysis, Angelique Desiree Maldonado

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

It is imperative to properly and proactively maintain a distribution pipe system. The benefits to optimizing a pipe distribution system include ensuring a safe water quality, reducing water loss from leaks and line breaks, minimizing revenue losses and providing a reliable service. There are also economic concerns as pipe replacement is extremely expensive; in the state of New Mexico, an estimated $1.16 billion in drinking water infrastructure is needed over the next 20 years. (USEPA 2013). Because distribution pipe is so costly to replace, an approach that only looks at age or type or non-system specific data may overestimate the …

Preservation Protocols For Maintaining Species Stability Of Arsenic, Chromium, And Selenium In Water Samples, Contessa Lowery

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Water quality has become an increasing concern in recent years. The environmental challenges surrounding water quality include the presence of dissolved metals and their potential impact on human health and the environment. The challenge is exacerbated because many important metals have multiple oxidation states, which affect the health and environmental behavior of the metal. Many metals are known carcinogens and increased anthropogenic effects have inexorably made metals’ accumulation an imposing threat. Analytical instrumentation has advanced in many areas, making it now possible to measure very low concentrations of multiple elements in water. Current interest is determining the chemical speciation of …

High-Resolution Digital Surface Characterization Of The Rio Chama In New Mexico, Rowan L. Converse

Shared Knowledge Conference

Over the past eighty years, the Rio Chama, a major tributary of the Rio Grande in New Mexico, has been subject to significant disruption of historic hydrological flow regimes due to water use demands. In recent years, a multiagency management effort has been initiated to restore some measure of historic flow regimes in the 39.6 km congressionally designated Wild and Scenic stretch through the Rio Chama Canyon Wilderness. We collaborated with managers at the US Army Corps of Engineers to collect approximately 15,870 frames of 10cm resolution multispectral imagery of the 82 km stretch of the river between El Vado …

Observed Changes In Climate And Streamflow In The Upper Rio Grande Basin, Shaleene Chavarria

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Observed streamflow and climate data are used to test the hypothesis that climate change is already affecting the streamflow volume derived from snow accumulation in ways consistent with climate model-based projections of 21st century streamflow. Annual and monthly changes in streamflow volume and surface climate variables on the upper Rio Grande (URG) near its headwaters in southern Colorado are assessed for water years 1958-2015. Trends in discharge are examined together with variations in snow water equivalent and surface climate variables. Results indicate that temperatures in the basin have increased significantly primarily in the winter and spring seasons, April 1 snow …

Comprehensive Silica Removal With Ferric Compounds For Industrial Wastewater Reuse, Ehren D. Baca

Civil Engineering ETDs

Cooling towers, integrated circuit (IC) manufacture and reverse osmosis (RO) generate copious amounts of wastewater high in colloidal and reactive silica inhibiting on-site or synergistic reuse. Silica present in cooling water can reach solubility limits via evaporation and form impervious scale on heat transfer surfaces that decreases efficiency. When water is treated by RO operating at high rejection, silica forms difficult-to-remove scale on the membrane feed side in the form of glassy patches and communities of aggregate particles, inhibiting aspirations for zero liquid discharge. Current methods for silica scale mitigation include abundant dosing with chemical antiscalents or complex operating schemes. …

University Of New Mexico Model Data Sources, Social Natural Science Nexus (Oil, Gas, And Water Production Statistics By Well 2013-2015-Oil And Gas Wells), Janie Chermak

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

This spreadsheet contains oil, gas, and water production and injection data by well API from 2013-2015. This is original data obtained from the NM OCD FTP site. Location and characteristics of producing wells in the state of NM intended to use in production model.

Acknowledgment Of Supporters, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law

Water Matters!

List of supporters.

Adjudications, Brigette Buynak, Darcy S. Bushnell

Water Matters!

Adjudications are lawsuits that take place in state or federal court to resolve all claims to water use in the state of New Mexico, including those of Pueblos, tribes and the federal government. These cases are required by statute to create a formal inventory of water uses and to facilitate administration of New Mexico’s surface and groundwater. The geographic scope of each case is generally described by a stream system and occasionally by a groundwater basin. By statute, the State is always the plaintiff. The mission is to formally identify and recognize all valid water rights in each area being …

New Mexico Water Law Capsules, Stephanie Tsosie

Water Matters!

This article contains a list some of the key cases decided in the state and federal courts of New Mexico with very brief descriptions of the rulings. The finalized cases have been arranged by topic. This chapter is intended to be a quick and handy reference guide and not a thorough summary of the facts and law of each case. This year we have also included a list of water law statutes.

Water Conservation, Consuelo Bokum

Water Matters!

New Mexico always has had periods of water shortages, some far more long lasting and devastating than others. As warming temperature and changing weather patterns continue to develop, the likelihood that water shortages—like those felt throughout the state from 2010 through 2013—will occur with greater frequency. These changes can and have caused significant economic and environmental damage, and the risk of more harm will not improve unless we improve our water management significant.

Drought, Adrian Oglesby

Water Matters!

New Mexico is renowned for its high deserts, mild climate, and abundant sunshine. Incidentally, these physical attributes, which make New Mexico so unique and beautiful, are also characteristic of a naturally dry environment. The state has been subjected to severe drought conditions in the past, alternating with times of uncharacteristically high supplies of moisture upon which its population has at times over-relied.

This article will provide various definitions of drought and a short history of drought in New Mexico; discuss impacts of drought on the state’s human water user communities and environment; discuss in brief the priority call and water …

Priority Administration, Ed Merta

Water Matters!

Since the turn of the twenty first century, drought conditions have frequently stricken much of New Mexico. Such intervals of extreme dryness have been a permanent, recurring feature of the state’s climate for at least two thousand years, according to tree ring data and other scientific evidence. Some of these past droughts lasted for decades, exceeding in severity the Dust Bowl of the 1930sand the great New Mexico drought of the 1950s. Today, climate change models indicate that the Southwest will likely become even hotter, potentially making future droughts in New Mexico more extreme. Managing water shortages promises to become …

Active Water Resource Management, Paul Bossert, Gregory C. Ridgley

Water Matters!

For decades, most of the waters of the State of New Mexico have been the subject of water rights adjudications to establish all the water rights. Stream systems and sub-basins geographically define the adjudications. There are twelve active cases. However, complete adjudication of all New Mexico water rights is still many years away. Meanwhile, water use in the state has evolved.New water users increasingly look to acquire existing water rights rather than developing new rights. Decisions on administration, distribution, and redistribution of water have to be made.

It was widely held, though not unanimously, that the State Engineer needed greater …