Technical Report

Groundwater Hydrology and Estimation of Horizontal Groundwater Flux From the Rio Grande at Selected Locations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2003-9

URL: https://webapps.usgs.gov/mrgescp/documents/Rankin%2C%20D.%20et%20al_2003_Groundwater%20Hydrology%20and%20Estimation%20of%20Horizontal%20Groundwater%20Flux%20from%20Rio%20Grande%20at%20Selected%20Locations%20in%20Albuquerque%2C%20NM%2C%202003-9.pdf

Date: 2013/01/01

Author(s): Rankin D.R., McCoy K.J., Moret G.J.M., Worthington J.A., Brandy-Baldwin K.M.

Publication: Prepared in cooperation with U.S. Bureau of Reclamation acting as fiscal agent for the Middle
Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program, 65 p.

Abstract:

The Albuquerque, New Mexico, area has two principal sources of water: groundwater from the Santa Fe Group aquifer system and surface water from the San Juan Chama Diversion Project. From 1960 to 2002, groundwater withdrawals from the Santa Fe Group aquifer system have caused water levels to decline more than 120 feet in some places within the Albuquerque area, resulting in a great deal of interest in quantifying the river-aquifer interaction associated with the Rio Grande.

In 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began a detailed characterization of the hydrogeology of the Rio Grande riparian corridor in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area to provide hydrologic data and enhance the understanding of rates of water leakage from the Rio Grande to the alluvial aquifer, groundwater flow through the aquifer, and discharge of water from the aquifer to the riverside drains.