Our agency collaborated with the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) on a hydrogeology study along the Animas River in New Mexico in response to the Gold King Mine spill, which occurred in August 2015. The water released from the spill was loaded with dissolved metals and contaminated sediments, which posed a possible risk to groundwater quality in the Animas Valley. This study, wihch included two phases, primarily focused on identifying potential adverse impacts on groundwater quality related to the Gold King Mine spill.
Three-dimensional, geographic information system (GIS)-based, subsurface geologic models are becoming increasingly common tools for visualizing, evaluating, and managing subsurface resources. The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Aquifer Mapping Program is developing 3D hydrogeologic-framework models of groundwater basins in New Mexico, including the Delaware Basin in southeastern NM. These models include a suite of geologic raster surfaces, geologic control points, aquifer boundaries, groundwater-level, water-depth, and water-quality data compiled in a readily available GIS map package. The result is a repository of pertinent shallow subsurface data for a given groundwater basin.
As part of the New Mexico Water Data Initiative, this 3-year project, cooperatively funded with the US Bureau of Reclamation's WaterSMART program, will improve water data accessiblity, efficiency of data collection and sharing, as well as developing tools to help address water management in the Pecos Valley region of southeastern New Mexico.
