A Brief Review of the Mimbres Elaine Hebard January 23, 2009 Border 2012 * Frontera 2012 Water Subcommittee * Subcomité Del Agua

Arid * Arida

Evapo- transpiración y Deficit de Agua

Mimbres Basin / Cuenca COMPILED BY: NM Water Resources Research Institute, March New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico. Columbus / Palomas Urban or Built-Up Land Agricultural Land Rangeland Forest Land Water Wetland/Bottom Land Barren Land Unclassified/Mexico Playa

Mapa con Regiones Hidrológicas

Population – a driving force

Grant & Luna County Population, 1910 to 2000 Grant & Luna Projected Population, 2000 to 2030 Source: Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of New Mexico.

XI Censo General de Población y Vivienda 1990 (12 de marzo de 1990), Conteo de Población y Vivienda 1995 Municipio of Ascensión, 1970 to 2000

Population & economic activities demand water

Water Use in Luna County 2005 New Mexico Water Use By Categories 2005, John W. Longworth, et al, New Mexico Office Of The State Engineer Technical Report 52, June 2008

Source: Plan Hidráulico Gran Visión, 1997 Water Use in Ascension, 1995

Source: Brian, C., WiIson, P.E., 2003, "Water Use by Categories in New Mexico Counties and River Basins, and Irrigated Acreage in 2000", New Mexico State Engineer Office, Technical Report 51, Santa Fe, NM. Summary of Water Uses - Luna County (acre feet) 2005 = 141,753 af

Water Budgets

ComponentLuna Co. partGrant Co. partTotal Basin Flow Inflow Recharge2,57222,415 S24,987 Stream loss10,0000 Flow from adjacent basin000 Return Flow2,1601,5073,667 Return flow mining63,8043,810 Return flow irrigation45,2563,47048,726 Total Inflow59,99431,19691,190 Mimbres Basin Groundwater Budget (acre feet per year) Source: Table F-6 of the The Southest New Mexico Regional Water Plan

Outflow Municipal wells4,3203,0137,333 Commercial (self-supplied) Domestic wells ,473 Irrigation wells75,2423,04478,286 Industrial (self-supplied)420 Livestock (self-supplied) Mining (self-supplied)718,71418,721 Power (self-supplied)0280 Evapotranspiration10,0003,40013,400 Springs / stream gain 4,800 Sub flow out000 Total Outflow90,78434,161124,945 Error and/or change in storage-30,790-2,965-33,755 Mimbres Basin Groundwater Budget (acre feet per year), continued

Ascensión Balance Calculation (mm3/year) AgricultureMunicipal Domestic/ IndustrialTotal Livestock Ascensión Palomas - Guadalupe Victoria RechargeExtraction AdditionalOver Balance Actual AvailableExploit Over- Exploited Under- Exploited Source: Plan Hidráulico Gran Visión, 1997

Common Aspects * Aspectos Común

population * populación water demands * demandas de agua   depend on groundwater * depiende de agua subterranea   uses exceed recharge * usos exceden recarga Summed Up

Additional Issues   Water Quality: high levels of arsenic and fluoride   Thirsty Neighbors: Cd. Juarez, Santa Teresa and El Paso   Data: Lacking, Inconsistent and Incompatible   Concerns about drought & climate change

Mimbres Basin Many questions concerning the aquifers remain: – – How extensive are the aquifers? – – Which directions are the aquifers flowing? – – How deep are the aquifers? – – What is the quality of the aquifers at various depths? – – How fast are they declining in supply and quality? – – What is the long-term availability? – – What is the relationship between surface supplies and aquifer recharge?

Octavo Informe de la Junta Ambiental del Buen Vecino: LA CUENCA DE MIMBRES - UN POSIBLE PROYECTO PILOTO PARA APLICAR MÉTODOS DE MANEJO DEL AGUA SUBTERRÁNEA EN LA ZONA FRONTERIZA MÉXICO-EE.UU. gneb8threport_sp.pdf Good Neighbor Environmental Board Eighth Report: THE MIMBRES BASIN - A POSSIBLE PILOT PROJECT FOR APPLYING GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT APPROACHES IN THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER REGION

Steering Committee * Comite Ejecutivo Focused on education, outreach and data exchange Enfocado en educación, participación publica y intercambio de datos

Activities * Actividades

VIP Water Tour & Interactive Map river.nmsu.edu/website/mimbres/

Contact Information Elaine Hebard, Project Facilitator Mimbres Basin Dialogue Celso Jaquez, Mexican Co-Leader Allyson Siwik, U.S. Co-Leader

RIO MIMBRES Columbus, New Mexico & Palomas, Chihuahua Nuestra Agua Común -- Nuestro Futuro Común Our Shared Water -- Our Shared Future

Issues * Asuntos   quantity of water / cantidad del agua   demand / usos de agua   future demand / usos futuros   depletion / agotamiento   drought / sequía   quality / calidad   international boundary / la frontera internacional   lack of data / falta de datos   incompatible information / información incompatible