Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
ALBUQUERQUE – It has been 30 years or so since residents in New Mexico’s largest city last saw their stretch of the Rio Grande go dry. There’s a possibility it could happen again this summer. (snip)
I understand this, but I also wonder how it affects me - does this mean water to the homes will be restricted? Since I don't farm or fish, and don't own a boat, I'm wondering what effect it will have on my life. I realize it will most likely mean water costs are going to go up, and it will probably also mean higher costs for food, but I expect that anyway to be honest.
For the record, we are in the same situation here in Utah, and yet the land developers continue to throw up houses and apartment buildings everywhere here in southwest Utah, there seems to be no end to development and they are considering building a pipeline across the south of the state to provide water from Lake Powell - while completely ignoring the fact that Lake Powell is drying up too.
It's an issue that affects all the southwest states, so that alone is not enough reason to stop me moving there. I suppose one of the questions regarding your post Deserter, is, how are they handling it in NM? Are they allowing developers to build regardless of the water shortage, or are they addressing the problem in a more common sense way?
To everyone who responded to my post, thank you. I will most likely be making a trip down there to look around, check out some rental possibilities, and see if New Mexico is in my future.
New Mexico is very well know for its very high crime rate. Basically its the Louisiana if the SW. Las Cruces, I saw for only a few days. Things are so spread out, the greyhound didn't warn me and dumped me 6 miles north if town by a rural gas station. I was very frustrated from the get go. I left to see Albq immediately after meeting a grad school advisor at the U. Its clearly much more rural and impoverished in some areas. Just less opportunities for everything g from shopping to entertainment than in the greater Albq area. If the crime rates weren't so incredibly high in Albq, I would be looking to buy a mobile there.
It's an issue that affects all the southwest states, so that alone is not enough reason to stop me moving there. I suppose one of the questions regarding your post Deserter, is, how are they handling it in NM? Are they allowing developers to build regardless of the water shortage, or are they addressing the problem in a more common sense way?
What I find a little alarming about water rights in the desert sw, and particularly in NM, is that there is a guaranteed water allotment from the Rio Grande that belongs to Texas. This is an amount of water, so no matter how much the water dries up, Texas gets its gallons. That was a bad agreement for NM, who could potentially at some point have to watch the water flow down the river yet not touch one drop of it.
Water rights are crazy in the desert sw. From the sources at Colorado it then becomes rather murky (no pun intended!) as the wars rage over water, from farmers with grandfathered water rights to new home subdivisions with no guaranteed anything. This problem exists in not only NM but AZ and CA. There are constant never ending water rights lawsuits in the courts all over the desert sw.
I still want to move to NM or AZ too...but I do wonder what the value of a house is with no water in the future. The fact is a complete depletion of these acquifers won't happen for nearly 100 years, but they are sinking, even the ground collapsing around these depleted acquifers.
What I find a little alarming about water rights in the desert sw, and particularly in NM, is that there is a guaranteed water allotment from the Rio Grande that belongs to Texas. This is an amount of water, so no matter how much the water dries up, Texas gets its gallons. That was a bad agreement for NM, who could potentially at some point have to watch the water flow down the river yet not touch one drop of it.
Water rights are crazy in the desert sw. From the sources at Colorado it then becomes rather murky (no pun intended!) as the wars rage over water, from farmers with grandfathered water rights to new home subdivisions with no guaranteed anything. This problem exists in not only NM but AZ and CA. There are constant never ending water rights lawsuits in the courts all over the desert sw.
I still want to move to NM or AZ too...but I do wonder what the value of a house is with no water in the future. The fact is a complete depletion of these acquifers won't happen for nearly 100 years, but they are sinking, even the ground collapsing around these depleted acquifers.
The potential losers in the short term are the farmers of southern NM. Sure, they can flood their fields with as much Rio Grande water as they want, but as of late it only flows a few months a year. It could one day just be a dry bed of sand year-round. The main agricultural products in that region (dairy, pecans, pistachios, chiles) are all relatively thirsty ones.
Small, economically depressed towns in the region may run out of water one day.
LC has its aquifer, and it only needs to look about 30ish miles south to El Paso for ideas about recharging the aquifer, recycling more wastewater, etc. It won´t be cheap though. If you want to live in a southwestern city, you have to accept higher water bills and maybe even property taxes.
Omg, Sable, you got dumped at Chucky's, LC's premier sketchy convenience store, lol. A few months ago a druggie tried to kidnap a baby from there. The guy was beaten down by Chucky's staff and a high school wrestler who was across the street at the more reputable Circle-K.
PCDoc54, if you don't like the gun scene in Utah (where I also live) New Mexico will not be much better. They're a blue state but not so much when it comes to guns.
475 bucks for annual car registration? Dang! That is insane.
Here in Houston, Texas....the 4th largest city in the USA, I only pay around 68 dollars to register my F150 and less for the wife's Escape. In TX, it goes mostly by vehicle weight. If you drive a small car, it will be way less than a pickup or large SUV.
I'm not sure what you are paying for motorcycle insurance, but it was an unpleasant surprise to find out that we would be paying double here in NM. This is due to the higher potential for bodily injury and the high numbers of uninsured motorists here. We have two vehicles and two motorcycles, and insurance is $200/month through Allstate.
I'm not sure what you are paying for motorcycle insurance, but it was an unpleasant surprise to find out that we would be paying double here in NM. This is due to the higher potential for bodily injury and the high numbers of uninsured motorists here. We have two vehicles and two motorcycles, and insurance is $200/month through Allstate.
Yikes! I am really sorry to hear that.
I think our unisured rate is nearly 1 in 5.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
