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Annual Albuquerque Water Table Mapping

figure
Block diagram illustrating water management criteria for the City of Albuquerque (From “Water 2120: Securing our water future, volume I: Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority”)
(click for a larger version)
Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority
figure
Change in water levels from predevelopment (pre-1961). Rises (positive) are in shades of blue and declines (negative) are in shades of gray, yellow and red.
(click for a larger version)

The NMBGMR is working under contract to the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) to prepare water-table maps of the production zone of the Upper Santa Fe Group Aquifer in the Albuquerque region. These maps are prepared from wintertime water-level measurements by the U.S. Geological Survey, the NMBGMR, Bernalillo County, and the U.S. Department of Energy in wells across the area. Data are collected in winter as water demand is lowest then and water levels have largely recovered from pumping-induced drawdowns that develop during the summer. The water-table maps show current aquifer conditions and changes in water levels from previous years. From these maps, groundwater flow directions can be determined and changes in groundwater storage in the aquifer can be calculated. These maps, and the calculated water-level and storage changes over time, are essential information for achieving ABCWUA’s water-management goals for the aquifer.

Results

Rawling, G., 2025, Methods and data sources for annual water-table maps prepared for the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open-File Report 633, 10 p. https://doi.org/10.58799/OFR-633

Rawling, G., 2024, Winter 2022–2023 water-level elevation map for the Albuquerque metropolitan area: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open-File Report 632, 17 p. https://doi.org/10.58799/OFR-632

Rawling, G., 2023, Winter 2021–2022 water-level elevation map for the Albuquerque metropolitan area: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open-File Report 625, 15 p. https://doi.org/10.58799/OFR-625

Rawling, G., 2023, Winter 2019–2020 water-level elevation map for the Albuquerque metropolitan area, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open-File Report 622, 14 p. https://doi.org/10.58799/OFR-622

Koning, D.J., Cikoski, C.T., Rinehart, A.J., and A.P. Jochem, 2019. Mapping Suitability for Managed Aquifer Recharge in the Albuquerque Basin: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open File Report 605. https://doi.org/10.58799/OFR-605

Mapping Potential Aquifer Recharge Zones. 2019. One-page factsheet. https://doi.org/10.58799/OFR-605

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