WSP05845

• File Number: 8507
• Description: Rio Grande Project
• State: CO
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Date: 7/1/1997
• Title: Water Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin part 2
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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An Overview of the Basin's Resource-Management Problems

e. Human Population Growth.-The Basin is expecting rapid population
growth. Projections from the Census Bureau for New Mexico indicate the
state's population is expected to grow by about 1 million people (55 percent)
between 1995 and 2025. Most of this increase is expected to occur in the Rio
Grande valley and primarily in the Middle Rio Grande area (Parker 1996).
The City of Albuquerque anticipates that its demand for water will grow
from the current 125,000 acre-feet per year (af/yr) to almost 300,000 by
2060 unless the City can reduce per-capita usage by 30 percent (City of
Albuquerque Public Works Department 1996). Even if it meets this target,
demand will exceed 200,000 af/yr.

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f. Declining Water Quality.-Many locations within the Upper Rio Grande
Basin have either encountered declines in the quality of the readily available
water supplies or recognized the threat that such declines may materialize in
the foreseeable future. Analysis of water quality data by the Clean Rivers
Program of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission identified
fecal coliform and salinity as a "concern" in portions of the Upper Rio Grande
Basin (Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission). Past spills of
trichloroethylene (TCE) and other toxic substances have polluted some of the
groundwater in the Albuquerque area, causing the City to shut down some of
its wells (City of Albuquerque Public Works Department 1996). Septic
systems in much of the most heavily populated areas of the Middle Rio
Grande area have polluted the shallow aquifer and in some places the
pollution has the potential to migrate into the deep aquifer. Similar septic
problems occur elsewhere in the Basin, including in the unincorporated
communities, known as colonias, near
El Paso (Borja 1996).' Naturally occurring arsenic in water from some of
Albuquerque's wells would fail to meet the new drinking water standards for
arsenic being considered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Water
users near Taos fear that discharges from mining sites contain toxic
materials, and Indians in northern and middle New Mexico fear that the
degraded quality of water in the river interferes with important cultural
practices requiring clean water.

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There is considerable concern that surface water and groundwater south of
Elephant Butte are subject to contamination by agricultural nutrients or
pesticides and by untreated sewage. Flows in the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez

2 Colonias are rural communities that lack basic infrastructure including water,
electricity, and waste services. Although colonias have existed for more than 100 years, they
now number almost 1,500 communities with 360,000 residents in Texas. New Mexico has
about 32,000 people living in colonias (Borja 1996).

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