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<br />0016.7 <br /> <br />PLAN OF STUDY TO QUANTIFY THE HYDROLOGIC RELATIONS <br />BETWEEN THE RIO GRANDE AND THE SANTA FE GROUP <br />AQUIFER SYSTEM NEAR ALBUQUERQUE, <br />CENTRAL NEW MEXICO <br />By Douglas P. McAda <br /> <br />ABSTRACf <br /> <br />The Albuquerque Basin in central New Mexico covers an area of about 3,060 square miles. <br />Ground water from the Santa Fe Group aquifer system of the Albuquerque Basin is the principal <br />source of water for municipal, domestic, commercial, and industrial uses in the Albuquerque <br />area, an area of about 410 square miles. Ground-water withdrawal in the basin has increased <br />from about 97,000 acre-feet in 1970 to about 171,000 acre-feet in 1994. About 92 percent of the <br />1994 total was withdrawn in the Albuquerque area. Management of ground water in the <br />Albuquerque Basin is related to the surface water in the Rio Grande. Because the aquifer system <br />is hydraulically connected to the Rio Grande and water in the river is fully appropriated, the <br />ability to reliably estimate the effects of ground-water withdrawals on flow in the river is <br />important. This report describes the components of the Rio Grande/Santa Fe Group aquifer <br />system in the Albuquerque area and the data availability and data and interpretation needs <br />relating to those components, and presents a plan of study to quantify the hydrologic relations <br />between the Rio Grande and the Santa Fe Group aquifer system. <br /> <br />The information needs related to the components of the river/aquifer system are <br />prioritized. Information that is necessary to improve the understanding or quantification of a <br />component in the river/aquifer system is prioritized as essential. Information that could add <br />additional understanding of the system, but would not be necessary to improve the <br />quantification of the system, is prioritized as useful. <br /> <br />The study elements are prioritized in the same manner as the information needs; study <br />elements designed to provide information considered necessary to improve the quantification of <br />the system are prioritized as essential, and those designed to provide information that would <br />add additional understanding of the system, but would not be necessary to improve the <br />quantification of the system, are prioritized as usefuL <br /> <br />INTRODUCfION <br /> <br />The Albuquerque Basin in central New Mexico covers an area of about 3,060 square miles <br />(fig. 2). The Albuquerque Basin is defined in this report as the extent of Cenozoic deposits from <br />Cochiti Lake on the north to San Acacia on the south. In 1990, the population of the basin was <br />about564,000 people, or about 37 percent of the population of New Mexico (U.S. Department of <br />Commerce, 1991). Ground water is the principal source of water for municipal, domestic, <br />commercial, and industrial uses in the basin. The Rio Grande, which extends the length of the <br />basin, is the principal source of water for irrigated agriculture. For a more detailed description <br />of the basin, the reader is referred to Thorn and others (1993). <br /> <br />The Albuquerque area, as defined for this report (fig. 2), covers an area of about 410 square <br />miles. It is the major population center in the basin and included about 502,000 people in 1990, <br />89 percent of the basin population. Ground-water withdrawal in the basin is concentrated in this <br />area as well; therefore, the Albuquerque area is the focus of this report. <br /> <br />1 <br />