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<br />C 1612
<br />
<br />A workshop on ground-water/surface-water relations in the Albuquerque Basin was held
<br />in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during October 12-14, 1994 (see "Supplemental information"
<br />section of this report). The purpose of the workshop was to identify and evaluate possible
<br />methods for improving the understanding of the hydrologic relations between the Rio Grande
<br />and the Santa Fe Group aquifer system in the Albuquerque area and quantifying those relations.
<br />The workshop was attended by many who work on geology, hydrology, and water management
<br />in the Albuquerque Basin, or who have done work on ground-water / surface-water interaction
<br />in other areas. Many of the elements of the plan of study outlined in this report were derived
<br />from that workshop. The author thanks the workshop participants and gratefully acknowledges
<br />their participation in the study plan development process. Those individuals are: Peter Balleau,
<br />Balleau Groundwater; Reid Bandeen, Camp Dresser and McKee; Mike Bitner, CH2M Hill; Gary
<br />Daves, Douglas Earp, Norman Gaume, and Tom Shoemaker, City of Albuquerque; Bob Grant,
<br />Grant Enterprises, Inc; Steve Hansen and Tom Pruitt, Bureau of Reclamation; John Hawley, New
<br />Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources; Franz Lauffer, Sandia National Laboratories;
<br />Stephen Lee, Kirtland Air Force Base; Linda M. Logan, Tom Morrison, Bhasker Rao, and James T.
<br />Smith, New Mexico State Engineer Office; Alan O'Brien, Rio Rancho Utilities Corp.; John
<br />Shomaker, John Shomaker and Associates; John SOHell, and Bill White, Bureau of Indian Affairs;
<br />W.K. Summers; and Alan Burns, Chuck Heywood, Mike Kernodle, Stan Leake, Frank Riley,
<br />Conde Thorn, Ed Weeks, and Dennis Woodward, USGS.
<br />
<br />HYDROLOGIC RELATIONS BETWEEN THE RIO GRANDE AND THE
<br />SANTA FE GROUP AQUIFER SYSTEM
<br />
<br />The Rio Grande surface-water system in the Albuquerque area consists of the Rio Grande
<br />and a series of canals and drains in the Rio Grande inner valley (fig. 3). Mean annual flow of the
<br />Rio Grande through Albuquerque is about 1,043,000 acre-feet per year (after the closure of
<br />Cochiti Dam, water years 1974-93; Cruzand others, 1994, p. 201), Water is diverted from the Rio
<br />Grande to canals for irrigation within the inner valley. The diversion of water for use within the
<br />Albuquerque area is at Angostura, and the next downstream diversion is at Isleta Pueblo (fig, 2).
<br />Riverside drains, installed in the late 1920's through early 1930's and revitalized in the 1950's,
<br />intercept seepage from the Rio Grande that previously contributed to waterlogging of irrigated
<br />land in the inner valley. These drains are open channels dug to a level below the water table.
<br />Interior drains, most of which are also open channels, were installed beginning at the same time
<br />as the riverside drains. The interior drains intercept seepage from canals and irrigation in the
<br />inner valley, then discharge to the riverside drains. The riverside drains then return the water to
<br />the river downstream. Although interior drains continue to be installed in some areas of the
<br />inner valley in the Albuquerque Basin, many interior drains in the middle part of the
<br />Albuquerque area are no longer functional as drains because ground-water withdrawal and the
<br />transfer of irrigated land to other uses have lowered the water table.
<br />
<br />As described previously, the Santa Fe Group aquifer system in the Albuquerque area is
<br />composed of middle Tertiary to Quaternary Santa Fe Group and Quaternary post-Santa Fe
<br />Group deposits. The Santa Fe Group is as much as about 14,000 feet thick in the Albuquerque
<br />area and is divided into three parts--the upper, middle, and lower. According to Hawley and
<br />Haase (1992), the upper part of the Santa Fe Group in the Albuquerque area is as much as about
<br />1,500 feet thick, the middle part as much as about 9,000 feet thick, and the lower part as much as
<br />about 3,500 feet thick (Hawley and Haase, 1992, figs. III3-1II5).
<br />
<br />The most permeable aquifer zones in the Albuquerque area are within the upper part of the
<br />Santa Fe Group and are composed of channel sediments deposited by an ancestral Rio Grande
<br />(Hawley and Haase, 1992; Hawley and others, 1995, fig, 2). These deposits consist of a large
<br />percentage of sand and gravel that result in relatively large hydraulic-conductivity values (in
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