Water problems in New Mexico (Alamogordo, Las Vegas: home, transfer, buying)

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by rruff

How much water does a person need? If you don't have a big lawn to keep green, or other crops to water I wouldn't worry about it. A small family could get by quite comfortably by collecting the rain that falls on their roof if it *really* became a crisis. In reality, the worst that could happen is that the price of water goes up, so people have some incentive to conserve. I don't know of any place in the country where it has gotten worse than this... or will in the near future. There are a lot more important things to consider than water.

You apparently have not lived in the arid Rocky Mountain West or Southwest, or if you have, you have a very sheltered view of it. Water is very serious business in the region, and water scarcity is becoming a major problem with out-of-control growth. You also would have to have one hell of a big roof to catch enough rainwater to survive on in most months of the year anywhere in the lower elevations of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, or Arizona. More important things than water? Maybe having air to breathe. Otherwise, water is about the most important thing there is--you can live maybe three days or so without any.

[Hunter Wold]

YES there are water problems any more to come.
Do some research as I did and you will see. We moved and bought land south of Zuni; the Native Americans have 1st rights to water due to a law that the
Supreme Court granted them about 1900.
We are allowed by the state to have 625 gals per day; we are lucky to get 50The Zuni reservation takes most of the water for themselves and is "selling" water to AZ., for power compaines.

This is not the only such situation going on in NM. There is a rumor that a person from out of this country that is going to bay thousands of acres west of Socorro and dig wells and sell the water to Texas. Legal, looks like it.

The growth in larger cities like ABQ, and LC will have big needs for water.
Unlike states that have a lot of snow pack, rivers etc. NM is desperate for
H2O...

HW

[Greenmon]

We too would look forward to Moving to New Mexico, and the water issue is on our minds as well, good thread. I would think many hobby farmers, and families who enjoy growing their own Food, will have to go with drip irrigation and Collect as much rain water and store it as possible . I am very disappointed to hear of anyone coming to,(NM) and sell water outside the state- what the Heck is the Governor, and the good people of New Mexico , doing about this ? This is an outrage ! Where is the Expose' , or investigative reporting on this ? Only the Best We Wish for New Mexico, AJ and Denise

[Greenmon]

Originally Posted by wildmaven

My husband and I are interested in relocating to New Mexico, yet we've been hearing some disturbing rumors that most of the larger cities are encountering major water shortages. Is this true? If so, what are the cities doing to prevent future problems?

Thanks, in advance.

Very Good thread, i read in one forum that well inspection by independent expert is very important ,before you start escrow, or as a condition. Why not purchase land with senior water rights , or buy land with river front, full time streams . Some exploring and research on your part will insure a safe water future, also consider purchasing with others and share water rights,(there are many areas already sharing), group is stronger .Remember in our American History, water is a very important issue and now states are already fighting in courts over boundaries because of water issues . If you live near the base of snow capped mountains and store water , then you can be assured your share. Good Luck and Fruitful results, Aj and Denise

[rruff]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

You apparently have not lived in the arid Rocky Mountain West or Southwest, or if you have, you have a very sheltered view of it.

I live in NM now, and I've lived in drier areas. I've also survived comfortably on 10 gallons per week, including drinking, washing, etc... though of course that isn't "normal" living. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I looked into water catchment when my wife and I were looking at buying some land that had poor well prospects. Seems like it was ~1500 gal per month (avg) would fall on the roof of a 1500 sqft house. Of course you'd want a big tank and for dry spells you'd need to haul some in, but we figured we could live comfortably enough on that amount.

I guess you can worry about water if you want, but I'm not.

[GregW]

Be aware that Western Water law is entirely different in concept and execution than Eastern Water rights. Before buying any land where you will have to provide your own water, talk to an attorney familiar with the subject.

[TKO]

It is illegal to transport water rights across state lines. El Paso has been in the process of suing NM for more than 20 years to try and get our water. There's approximately 3000 acres of farmland in southern Dona Ana County (Las Cruces) owned by the City of El Paso Water Utilities Board in anticipation of winning that lawsuit. IMO they won't.

Water in Cruces is not an issue per say. It's the desert and it only makes sense to conserve for the future but our acquifers are far from empty and we aren't going to run out in any of our lifetimes. Considering that technology will solve it before (most likely) I for one am not at all worried. That said the water sucks and I can't drink it. Talk about hard this water is in the diamond catagory of the hardness scale. Yuckk!

In a place that gets 10 inches a year of rainfall if y'all are going to buy enough barrels to make it work by collecting, I'm buying in stock in the cooperage industry.

Greg is correct as well. NM is currently in the process of adjudicating water rights. The law gives priority to time of use and continued use. ie the longer you prove you've been using water (surface or ground) the more priority your given in the event of a shortage. The part of the law that is really stupid is the "use it or lose it" clause. Water's very valuable. Farmers have priority going way back because the Mesilla Valley was first settled for ag. Most of them realize they will be selling their water rights in the future just as their farm land will probably be developed at some point. They are forced by the clause to use every bit they have access to which eliminates the motivation to use more conservtion friendly forms of irrigation. This law must be changed and the farmers must be allowed to "bank" water rights for sale to municipalites and community water districts at such time as the market makes it feasible for them to do so.

/rant

[GregW]

Banking the water rights is a good idea. Wasting water so you will have enough to not waste in the future is not so good an idea.

I am familiar with, but not an expert in, Eastern (riparian) water law, and the very precepts of Western (prior appropriation) law are a puzzlement. Believe me, I will check out the water rights attached to any property before I purchase.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by rruff

I live in NM now, and I've lived in drier areas. I've also survived comfortably on 10 gallons per week, including drinking, washing, etc... though of course that isn't "normal" living. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I looked into water catchment when my wife and I were looking at buying some land that had poor well prospects. Seems like it was ~1500 gal per month (avg) would fall on the roof of a 1500 sqft house. Of course you'd want a big tank and for dry spells you'd need to haul some in, but we figured we could live comfortably enough on that amount.

I guess you can worry about water if you want, but I'm not.

Let's see how much water you would collect. Let's say you have a 2,000 square foot roof. For this example, assume 12 inches (1 foot) of annual precipitation (a lot for many places in New Mexico, but we'll go with it). Now let's convert that to acre-feet, then to gallons.

1 acre = 43,560 square feet.

2,000 square feet/43,560 square feet = .045914 acre

.045914 acre x 1 foot of water = .045914 acre/feet of water falling on the roof per year.

1 acre foot of water = 325,851.428571 gallons

.045914 x 325,851.428571 gallons = 14,961.14 gallons per year

14,961.14 / 365 = 40.99 gallons per day

This assumes that EVERY drop of that 12 inches of precipitation is captured, that there is no evaporation loss, and no leakage of the water in getting from the roof to where it stored and to where it is used in the house. Of course, that precipitation does not fall evenly in the year, so adequate storage much also be provided.

Current typical indoor water use per day in the US is about 50 gallons per person per day.

Now for the second part:

New Mexico water law, like most Western states is based on the "doctrine of prior appropriation" or, as it is commonly referred to, "First in use, first in right." Under this water law, unlike the water law in most of the rest of the Midwest and Eastern United States, water falling on or originating on a landowner's property does not automatically confer a right for him or her to use it. If someone else has adjudicated a claim on that water--perfecting a right to use it--that person has the "senior" right to the water. If the landowner does not perfect a right to the water rising on his property (or passing through it), he will most likely have no right to either use it or store it. You might have the Rio Grande River running right through the middle of your property and not have a right to use a single drop of it. People not from the Rocky Mountain West frequently have no understanding of this.

There is an extensive thread on water over on the Colorado Forum ( http://www.city-data.com/forum/color...out-water.html ). While Colorado water law differs some from New Mexico, there is a lot of commonality in both the law and the water problems confronting both states.

A brief synopsis of water law in various western states can be found here:

Western Water Law - New Mexico (broken link) .

[GregW]

jazzlover - thank you very much for the link.