Drought In New Mexico, Lack Of Water. (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: credit, houses)
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Tom Udall made an appearance just upriver from me at La Llorona Park to unveil a 30 page report on drought and New Mexico. At the park, adjacent to the I-10 bridge, there is NO visible water in the Rio Grande. The EBID water engineer says this is the worst drought in Dona Ana since 1916, but all that means is that they didn't keep specific records before 1916 when Elephant Butte was being created. Out in the desert, cactus is perishing from lack of moisture. Sen. Udall unveils proposals targeting NM drought - Las Cruces Sun-News
Long term, people can survive, certainly. I"m not sure the same thing can be said for agriculture, particularly if the ground water is saline, as it is up by Hatch. Even if there IS groundwater, this forces farmer to grow crops that can tolerate salt, and that does not include Chile. The Mesilla Valley has a deep, relatively low salinity aquifer, so farmers can hold on longer here, but a few more years of this will force some people to just give it up. The famous Hatch Chiles may be a thing of the past if precipitation patterns don't change in the near future.
we could take a shot at discussing the possibilities, though.
The long term prospects for rainfall are not good. So I wouldn't expect to buy farmland cheap and make it productive long term. On the other hand the odds are better that you could buy distressed land now and sell it in a few years if/when the fluctuations move to the wet side.
Residential RE isn't really effected by rainfall patterns. Look for NM to continue growing in population... hopefully slowly.
So if you could buy distressed farmland that has long term residential prospects, that might be a safer bet.
My wife and i drove up to Taos yesterday and couldn't believe how dry everything was. The trees were not in bloom and there was dry winterkill vegetation everywhere. Even more startling was how dead all of the shops/restaurants were. 7/10 were completely empty and most of the discussion within the businesses were revolving around the drought effecting northern new mexico that made front page news of the local paper. I was there in mid october of 12 and just couldn't believe how dry it was.
We also did the "enchanted loop" and found an equal amount of dry grass and foliage on the plains and into carson forest. The rio grande was low enough that you could see the river bottom from the overlooks on the gorge.
Begs the question, when are our water rates going to go up, then?
Look around, been happening...
Water Utility Says It Needs To Raise Rates
By John Fleck / Journal Staff Writer on Wed, Apr 4, 2012
Albuquerque’s metro area water utility will likely need additional rate increases in the coming decade to fund upgrades to its decaying infrastructure. A two-step rate increase passed last year will help shore up the water authority’s finances in the short term. The recently approved rate hike increased revenue this year by 10 percent, and a similar increase will take effect in 2014.
My wife and i drove up to Taos yesterday and couldn't believe how dry everything was. The trees were not in bloom and there was dry winterkill vegetation everywhere. Even more startling was how dead all of the shops/restaurants were. 7/10 were completely empty and most of the discussion within the businesses were revolving around the drought effecting northern new mexico that made front page news of the local paper. I was there in mid october of 12 and just couldn't believe how dry it was.
We also did the "enchanted loop" and found an equal amount of dry grass and foliage on the plains and into carson forest. The rio grande was low enough that you could see the river bottom from the overlooks on the gorge.
Found a pic from our trip that somewhat shows the river and surrounding area:
Found a pic from our trip that somewhat shows the river and surrounding area:
When I was up there a few years back it didn't seem so dry. Did they get enough snow this year?That is sad. What are the drought predictions for Northern New Mexico. We spend a lot of time in Chama and will be there in September.
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